Dollar holds steady in Asia

TOKYO: The dollar held steady against the yen in Asian trade Tuesday amid uncertainty about the Federal Reserve's plans for its huge stimulus programme.

In Tokyo afternoon trading, the greenback bought 98.87 yen, nearly unchanged from New York overnight but down from levels above 99 yen in Asia earlier Monday.

The Fed last week surprised markets by keeping its bond-buying scheme unchanged, confounding economists who had expected the bank to begin reeling it in as the US economy shows signs of strengthening.

On Friday, two days after the Fed announcement, senior bank official James Bullard said the cutbacks could still come this year.

But on Monday, other Fed officials reinforced the message that the central bank needed to see more concrete improvement in the economy before cutting back on the $85 billion-a-month bond-buying scheme.

"Dovish remarks... yesterday failed to lift market sentiment as investors remained cautious over Fed tapering amid contrasting signals from officials," Credit Agricole said.

In other trading, the euro was at $1.3494 against $1.3493 in New York and well off the $1.3529 touched in Asia Monday, while it also eased to 133.31 yen from 133.37 yen.