Forex - Dollar Index Holds Steady in Cautious Trade

Dollar little changed vs. rivals as caution remains

Investing.com - The dollar held stready against other majors on Wednesday, as investors remained cautious due to the potential of fresh geopolitical tensions with North Korea.

Market sentiment was still midly supported as Hurricane Irma appeared to have caused less damage than feared and in the absence of any new provocations from North Korea.

Irma, which had hammered the Caribbean late last week andwas one of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes, weakened to a tropical depression, easing concerns over the severity of its financial impact.

Separately, market participants seemed to shrug off North Korea’s rejection of sanctions imposed by the U.N. Security Council.

The Security Council voted unanimously on Monday to step up sanctions on the peninsula, in response to its sixth nuclear test.

U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the U.N. sanctions were a "very small step" and "nothing compared to ultimately what will have to happen" to combat the regime's nuclear program.

The safe-haven yen and Swiss francweresteady, with USD/JPY at 110.13and with USD/CHF at 0.9604.

Elsewhere, EUR/USD was also little changed at 1.1973, while GBP/USD eased 0.11% to 1.3269 after data showed that the UK unemployment rate unexpectedly fell in July but wages registered a weaker-than-expected growth.

Sterling had rallied broadly on Tuesday amid expectations that the day's strong inflation reading would prompt the Bank of England to take a more hawkish stance on interest rates.

The Australian was stronger, with AUD/USD up 0.22% at 0.7283, while NZD/USD was almost unchanged at 0.7283.

Meanwhile, USD/CAD slumped 0.38% to trade at 1.2140.

The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was little changed at 91.84 by 05:20 a.m. ET (09:20 GMT).