Dollar near recent peaks

The dollar rose towards this week's 27-month high against the yen and also edged up versus the euro on Tuesday on expectations that US economic data due later will cement expectations of rising US interest rates.
The dollar recouped losses made the previous day on soft US home sales data, but analysts said the market lacked a clear trend before this week's key events - a European Central Bank rate decision on Thursday, US jobs data on Friday and a weekend meeting of finance ministers and central bankers from the G7 industrialised nations.
"The main reason (for the dollar's rise) is still that the market is very much focused on the interest rate spreads and as long as you don't have the Fed signalling it would cease tightening, an ECB rate hike is not going to change the picture," said Johan Javeus, currency strategist at SEB Merchant Banking in Stockholm.
By 1253 GMT, the dollar was buying around 119.05 yen, up 0.2 percent from late US levels but off Monday's 27-month peak around 119.95.
US durable goods orders due at 1330 GMT are expected to have risen 1.1 percent in October after falling 2.4 percent in September. Consumer confidence in November, due at 1500 GMT, is set to show a reading of 90.0 compared with 85.0 in October. "Today we should see some relatively upbeat news. The consumer confidence numbers are expected to rebound little bit and durable goods are set to bounce. So it should be positive dollar numbers," said Mitul Kotecha, head of FX research at Calyon.
Against the euro, the dollar was up a quarter percent at $1.1813. On Monday, the euro rose to a three-week high just above $1.19.
Group of Seven finance ministers and central bank governors are meeting in London on Friday and Saturday to discuss the global economy and exchange rates.
A senior Japanese Finance Ministry official said the impact of future rises in global interest rates would be one topic at the gathering.
Ministers from emerging economies including China will also attend part of the meeting, but unlike in the run up to the previous meetings investors are expecting few fireworks. A Reuters poll showed 28 out of 30 FX strategists expected little market impact from the G7 communiqué. Elsewhere, the dollar rose against the Canadian dollar, trading just under C$1.17 on political jitters as Canada braces for an election in January after its minority Liberal government lost a vote of confidence in Parliament.