• The dollar was steady in holiday-thinned trading on Tuesday, shrugging off upbeat Japanese economic data as most market participants have already closed their books for the year.
The euro was steady at $1.1871 EUR=. The single currency gave up some ground last week after Catalan separatists won a regional election, deepening Spain's political crisis in a sharp rebuke to Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and European Union leaders who backed him.
Against the yen, the dollar was almost flat on the day at 113.29 JPY=.
The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, edged down 0.1 percent to 93.253 .DXY.
• Markets in Australia and Hong Kong remained closed after Monday’s Christmas holiday, and many financial centers in Europe will also be shut on Tuesday.
• “Yesterday and today, major markets are closed, so it’s difficult to see clear direction at the moment, and we need to think about what will happen in the beginning of next year,” said Masafumi Yamamoto, chief currency strategist for Mizuho Securities in Tokyo.
“I still believe that the passage of the U.S. tax bill and the avoidance of the government shutdown are positive for the dollar,” he said. “In a relative sense, the dollar has an advantage.”
• Japan’s core consumer prices rose for the 11th straight month and household spending jumped in November, offering the central bank some hope a steady economic recovery will gradually drive up inflation to its 2 percent target.
But the increase in prices was due mostly to a boost from rising fuel costs that is seen fading in 2018, keeping the Bank of Japan under pressure to maintain its huge monetary support even as other major central banks seek an end to crisis-mode policies.
• Japan’s jobless rate fell to 2.7 percent in November, while the availability of jobs hit the highest level in nearly 44 years, government data showed on Tuesday.
• Japanese household spending rose 1.7 percent in November from a year earlier in price-adjusted real terms, government data showed on Tuesday.
• Iraqi Oil Minister Jabar al-Luaibi said on Monday he was optimistic there would be a balance between supply and demand by the first quarter of 2018, leading to a boost in oil prices.
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