The dollar rose modestly in Asian trade Tuesday as investors took a breather while awaiting possible further US intervention to address the global financial crisis, dealers said.
The dollar edged up to 101.85 yen in Tokyo morning trade from 101.77 in New York late on Monday. The euro fell to 135.67 yen from 135.91 and to 1.3320 dollars from 1.3343.

Dealers said that market players were looking to see the effects of the crisis on companies ahead of a raft of earnings reports due out starting this week in the United States and Japan.

“Investors seem to be taking a respite,” said Masatsugu Miyata, forex dealer of Hachijuni Bank. “The trading is relatively slow compared to what we’ve seen in past weeks.”

“We are looking into the condition of the actual economy,” he said.

Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke boosted market sentiment by throwing his support behind another US stimulus package to kick-start the economy.

“With the economy likely to be weak for several quarters and with some risk of a protracted slowdown, consideration of a fiscal package by the Congress at this juncture seems appropriate,” Bernanke told a congressional committee.

Saburo Matsumoto, chief forex strategist at Sumitomo Trust Bank, said foreign currency dealers were still recovering from panic trading last week.

“Market players are not taking that much risk towards the year-end after seeing damage incurred from the volatility since the summer,” he said.

But he said concerns were still growing over an economic slowdown in Europe, hitting the euro.