Early trade in New York: dollar advances on its highest level of 2018

The dollar advanced on Tuesday to its highest level of 2018 against a basket of currencies on safe-haven buying, as investors worried about the fate of the Iran nuclear deal and political turmoil in Italy. Recent data showing Europe's economic growth was slowing caused traders to cut bullish bets on euro and to scale back their outlook for European interest rate hikes in 2019.
"The top focus point today is with Iran. There's also a political wind blowing across Europe," said Joe Manimbo, senior market analyst at Western Union Business Solutions in Washington. "Everything is pointing to further strengthen the dollar."
At 10:38 am (1438 GMT), an index that tracks the greenback versus the euro, yen, sterling and six other currencies hit 93.280, its highest since December. It was last up 0.5 percent at 93.212.
The dollar index had been down year to date but in three weeks it has gained over 4 percent, erasing that loss.
The euro has declined to its weakest level since late December. It was down about 0.6 percent to $1.1852 and 129.49 yen, Reuters data showed.
The pound declined to $1.3485, its lowest since Jan. 11, Bank of England policy makers meet on Thursday, and are expected to leave interest rates unchanged.
Among commodity-linked currencies, the Australian dollar fell 1 percent to $0.7441 after touching an 11-month low.