The dollar climbed for a third straight session against a basket of the world's most actively traded currencies on Tuesday as investors, convinced the Federal Reserve will keep US monetary policy ultra-loose well into next year, trimmed bearish bets. The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against six currencies but is dominated by the euro, last traded 0.1 percent higher at 79.308 as Fed policymakers started a two-day meeting. The index was below the session's earlier one-week peak of 79.535 but above Friday's 78.998, which marked its lowest since February.
The single currency has climbed more than 8 percent against the dollar since early July. It last traded at $1.3792, up 0.1 percent, with investors remaining wary the ECB may express discomfort with the single currency's strength in the coming weeks. Against the yen, the dollar last traded at 97.94 yen, up 0.3 percent on the day. The Australian dollar retreated after Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Glenn Stevens tried to talk it down. It last traded 0.8 percent lower at $0.9494, down from last Wednesday's $0.9758, a four-month high, according to Reuters data.