By Ankur Banerjee and Stefano Rebaudo

(Reuters) -The U.S. greenback was barely decrease on Tuesday, however nonetheless inside hanging distance of its three-month excessive, whereas the Australian greenback rose after the central financial institution mentioned a fee hike could also be wanted to tame inflation.

The Reserve Financial institution of Australia (RBA) on Tuesday left charges unchanged, however cautioned a couple of potential additional financial tightening.

Traders have steadily pushed again bets for the primary fee minimize from the RBA to August, slightly than June, with economists polled by Reuters additionally anticipating the central financial institution to remain regular on charges properly into the second half of this 12 months.

The rose 0.35% to $0.6505, inching away from the 2-1/2 month low of $0.6469 it touched on Monday. The New Zealand greenback was 0.13% greater at $0.6063.

The repricing of the RBA financial path “helps to supply modest assist for the Australian greenback within the near-term,” mentioned Lee Hardman, senior foreign money analyst, at MUFG.

“Sentiment in direction of the Aussie has additionally been boosted not directly in a single day by the rebound within the Chinese language fairness market the place hypothesis is constructing over additional state coverage motion to supply stability,” he added.

The Aussie greenback is normally strongly correlated to Chinese language shares, as China is Australia’s largest buying and selling companion.

Chinese language shares recorded their greatest one-day achieve since 2022 on Tuesday and the yuan rose on a slew of alerts that authorities are strengthening their resolve to assist slumping markets.

A string of sturdy U.S. financial information and remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell have quashed hypothesis of early and steep rate of interest cuts and supported the greenback.

Merchants have been scaling again fee minimize bets because the starting of the 12 months and are presently pricing in solely a 16% likelihood of a minimize in March, the CME FedWatch instrument confirmed, in contrast with a 69% likelihood in the beginning of the 12 months.

They’re additionally now pricing in round 115 foundation factors (bps) of cuts this 12 months, in contrast with round 150 bps of easing anticipated in early January.

The , which measures the U.S. foreign money in opposition to six others, eased 0.11% to 104.34, having touched 104.60 on Monday, its highest since Nov. 14. The index is up 3% for the 12 months to date, after dropping 2% in 2023.

“There appears little incentive for buyers and corporates to dump any of their greenback holdings,” mentioned Chris Turner world head of markets at ING.

“There may be additionally the looming China Lunar New Yr vacation subsequent week, which can make the market reluctant to hold quick greenback positions in an unsure geopolitical atmosphere,” he added.

The euro was up 0.16% at $1.0761%.

“German information are supporting the one foreign money,” mentioned Roberto Mialich, foreign exchange strategist at UniCredit.

“A possible repricing of the ECB (European Central Financial institution) coverage path in direction of a primary fee minimize in June as a substitute of April, which we regard as doubtless, would prop up the euro within the medium time period,” he added.

German industrial orders unexpectedly jumped in December.

Traders will deal with the ECB’s shopper expectations survey, due later within the session, which may ship hints concerning the disinflation course of affecting expectations for coverage.

Sterling final fetched $1.2558, up 0.18% on the day, however remained near Monday’s seven-week low.

The pound’s fall on Monday got here regardless of some upbeat financial information. Figures confirmed that UK unemployment was doubtless a lot decrease late final 12 months than beforehand thought, which may push out British fee cuts too.

The Japanese yen was stronger on the day at 148.57 per greenback, however not far off a two-month low of 148.90 it touched on Monday.

Japan’s actual wages fell for a twenty first straight month, although at a slower tempo, whereas family spending dropped for a tenth consecutive month, exhibiting inflation outpaced wage restoration and continued to weigh on shopper spending.