Dollar Mixed As Euro Dips on Portugal, Ireland Worries

NEW YORK, Mar. 23 -- The U.S. dollar traded mixed against major currencies in late New York trading on Tuesday as the euro fell on the concerns about Ireland debt paying trouble and Portugal's voting on austerity policies.

The euro fell against the greenback on Tuesday as Ireland was questioned about its ability to pay off its debt, bringing back the sovereign-debt worries in eurozone.

Meanwhile, a vote in Portugal on austerity measures is expected on Wednesday. The nation's main opposition party may vote against it according to some reports, which raised concerns that the fiscal situation would deteriorate if the austerity plan was turned down.

The dollar fell slightly below 81 against the Japanese yen as investors'worry on new intervention by the Group of Seven was eased, following the situations in quake-hit Japan were stabilizing.

The expectations of an interest rate hike in Britain intensified on Tuesday as the country's consumer price rose surprisingly by 4.4 percent in February, more than double of its central bank's 2 percent target.

The British pound jumped as high as 1.6401 dollars in mid-day trading, its highest level since December 2009.

In late Tuesday trading, the dollar bought 80.91 yen, comparing with 81.05 late Monday, and the euro fell to 1.4207 dollars from 1. 4226.

The British pound rose to 1.6382 dollars from 1.6315. The dollar fell from 0.9046 to 0.9032 against Swiss francs, but rose to 0.9793 Canadian dollars from 0.9785.