Dollar strengthens

TOKYO: The dollar regained some footing on Monday after slipping earlier on a U.S. government shutdown, supported by higher Treasury yields, while investors took a relatively calm view of the Washington wrangling.

The U.S. government shutdown took effect at midnight on Friday after Democrats and Republicans, locked in a bitter dispute over immigration and border security, failed to agree on a last-minute deal to fund government operations.

In order to break the impasse, Republican and Democratic leaders of the U.S. Senate held talks on Sunday. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said late on Sunday that an overnight vote on a measure to fund government operations through Feb. 8 was cancelled and would instead be held at 12 p.m. (1700 GMT) on Monday. "The market is accustomed with what is taking place in U.S. politics. It is not reading too far into the shutdown, which is more like a political show," said Koji Fukaya, president of FPG Securities in Tokyo. The dollar´s index against a basket of six other major currencies initially dipped to hit 90.155 but was last up 0.1 percent at 90.665, managing to hold above the three-year trough of 90.113 set on Thursday. The euro was a shade lower at $1.2221 after climbing to $1.2275 but failing to regain the three-year peak of $1.2323 that it scaled on Wednesday.