The U.S. dollar was slightly lower against a basket of major currencies on Tuesday amid the choppy trade spurred by developments in Ukraine after Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized two breakaway regions in the country and ordered troops to the area.
The Kremlin remained open to diplomacy with the United States and other countries, as it faced actions from a slew of countries, according to the Kremlin. Britain published a list of sanctions and Germany froze the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea gas pipeline project, which would have significantly increased Russian gas flow.
The dollar fell somewhat as U.S. President Joe Biden announced the first wave of sanctions against Russia while saying he hoped diplomacy was still available.
The euro went up against the dollar after it reached its lowest level since February 14, which in part was buoyed by the hope of talks and economic data showing business morale in Germany improved in February, across all sectors, to its highest since August.
The dollar index fell 0.1%, with the euro up 0.2% to $1.1333. The dollar traded between gains of as much as 0.1% and a decline of 0.35% on the day.
"The markets are not responding as if there is an irredeemable escalation that is going to ruin the global recovery," said Joseph Trevisani, senior analyst at FXStreet.com in New York.
The market doesn't see it as a great change in the situation, and the game is still in the air. Russia's rouble increased 2.07% against the dollar at 78.76, after weakening to 80.9275 per greenback, a level last seen in November 2020. The pound was trading at $1.359 last day, down 0.06% on the day.
The dollar gained ground earlier in February after data from IHS Markit showed that US business activity regained speed as the pressure from a surge in COVID 19 cases during the winter ebbed.
The U.S. consumer confidence fell for a second straight month in February, according to other data.
After initially strengthening against the dollar, safe havens such as the Swiss franc and Japanese yen gave back gains against the dollar. The dollar was up 0.6% against the Swiss franc, while the yen weakened 0.29%.
The price of cryptocurrencies went up by 2.76% to $38,089. The price of ether rose by 1.94% to $2,632.