NEW YORK: The US dollar edged higher against a basket of currencies on Tuesday, nearing a two-month peak touched last week, as traders awaited the Jackson Hole Symposium later in the week.

The US dollar index - which measures the currency against six major counterparts - was up 0.3 % at 103.58. The index was sitting just shy of the two-month high of 103.68, reached last week as worries over China’s economy and bets US interest rates will stay high lifted the greenback. “Right now the world is watching China with baited breath waiting for further stimulus measures,” Helen Given, FX trader at Monex USA in Washington, said.

“It would be too strong to even call China’s economic recovery ‘sputtering’ at this point; indications are those of an economy in contraction, and this in turn is keeping riskier assets depressed,” she said.

The Chinese central bank set the yuan mid-point at 7.1992 per dollar on Tuesday, 1105 pips firmer than Reuters’ estimate, seeking to keep a floor under the currency after its slide to a 9-1/2-month low of 7.349 in offshore trading last week. Tuesday’s fixing follows shallower and narrower interest rate cuts than markets had expected a day earlier, as stimulus measures continued to under whelm in the face of property sector turmoil and weakening economic growth.

Britain’s pound slipped 0.2 % on Tuesday, taking little solace from a moderate pick-up in risk appetite.

In cryptocurrencies, bitcoin fell 0.48 % to $ 26,000, hovering above the 2-month low hit last week, as overall sentiment in the cryptocurrency market remained bearish.