2021.03.1620:55:00UTC+00Dollar Turns In Lackluster Performance Against Peers

The U.S. dollar turned in a somewhat sluggish performance against most of its peers on Tuesday as markets looked ahead to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement.

The Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged on Wednesday, but traders will be paying close attention to any changes to the accompanying statement.

The Bank of England's polity statement is due on Thursday, while the Bank of Japan is scheduled to announce its policy on Friday.

Data showing a drop in U.S. retail sales and a decline in industrial production contributed a bit to the dollar's lackluster moves against other currencies.

Data released by the Commerce Department showed U.S. retail sales pulled back by much more than anticipated in the month of February, plunging by 3%, after soaring by an upwardly revised 7.6% in January.

Economists had expected retail sales to dip by 0.5% compared to the 5.3% spike originally reported for the previous month.

The Federal Reserve released a report showing an unexpected slump in U.S. industrial production in February, with steep drops in manufacturing and mining output more than offsetting a sharp increase in utilities output.

The Fed said industrial production tumbled by 2.2% in February after jumping by an upwardly revised 1.1% in January. Economists had expected industrial production to climb by 0.6% compared to the 0.9% increase originally reported for the previous month.

The dollar index, which rose to 92.03 around noon, recovering from a low of 91.68 it touched in the European session, was last seen at 91.88, up 0.05% from previous close.

Against the Euro, the dollar firmed up to $1.1884 from $1.1953 before paring some gains. Still, it was fairly well placed in positive territory at $1.1905 a unit of Euro a little while ago, gaining more than 0.2%.

The Pound Sterling was slightly weak, fetching $1.3894 after having dropped to $1.3809 earlier in the day.

The Yen firmed up to 109.02 a dollar, gaining about 0.1%.

The dollar was stronger against the Aussie, with the AUD-USD pair at 0.7744, compared to Monday's close of 0.7755.

The Swiss franc firmed up to 0.9248 a dollar from 0.9281, while the Loonie advanced to C$1.2446 a dollar from C$1.2472.