U.S. dollar mixed on soft economic data

The U.S. dollar traded mixed against major currencies Tuesday on a pair of weak economic data from the country.

The general business conditions index for February fell eight points in New York region, but remained positive at 4.5, according to the Empire State Manufacturing Survey released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Tuesday, falling short of analysts' forecasts.

Moreover, U.S. builder confidence in the market for newly-built, single-family homes dropped to 46 in February from 56 in the prior month, according to the National Association of Home Builders/ Wells Fargo Housing Market Index released Tuesday. The association blamed unusually severe weather conditions for the worse-than- expected reading.

The disappointing numbers dampened demand for the U.S. currency and weighed on it.

Moreover, investors will garner any signs about the U.S. Federal Reserve's tapering plan of monetary stimulus from the minutes of its policy meeting in January due out Wednesday, which plays a key role in determining the greenback's trend.

The dollar strengthened versus the Japanese yen after the Bank of Japan, the Japanese central bank, pledged that it would keep loose monetary policy in place to tackle deflation.

The greenback reversed its recent downward trading to drift higher against the British pound as the inflation in Britain came out below the country's 2 percent target in January for the first time in more than four years.

In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.3757 U.S. dollars from 1.3696 dollars of the previous session, and the British pound went down to 1.6682 U.S. dollars from 1.6743 dollars. The Australian dollar decreased to 0.9034 U.S. dollar from 0.9036 dollar.

The U.S. dollar bought 102.34 Japanese yen, higher than 101.87 yen of the previous session. The greenback on Tuesday dropped to 0. 8883 Swiss franc from 0.8918 Swiss franc, and fell to 1.0945 Canadian dollars from 1.0981 Canadian dollars. Endite