By Lisa Twaronite, MarketWatch
TOKYO (MarketWatch) -- The dollar was slightly lower against most rivals in Monday's Asian trading, but remained in recent ranges as investors awaited clues this week for the timing of future U.S. interest rate hikes.
The dollar edged down to 91.58 yen, from 91.65 yen in late North American trading on Friday.
The euro was slightly higher, at $1.3604, compared with $1.3603 late Friday.
The dollar index (DXY 80.50, -0.04, -0.05%) , which measures the U.S. unit against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, slipped to 80.601 from 80.627 late Friday.
"This week, how [U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben] Bernanke's Congressional testimony for the semiannual monetary policy report on Wednesday will affect U.S. rate expectations should likely be key" to how the U.S. dollar fares against its Japanese counterpart, said Tomoko Fujii, a rates and currency strategist at Bank of America Securities-Merrill Lynch, in a note to clients Monday.
If Bernanke's statements "discourage expectations of early monetary tightening" -- as Fujii said she expected them to do -- the dollar "will probably become top heavy again" against the yen.
The dollar touched an eight-month high against major currencies Friday, supported by the Federal Reserve's surprise move to increase its discount rate. See Friday's Currencies report.
