Dollar advances on narrowed US trade deficit

The US dollar gained against most major currencies on Tuesday after data showed that U.S. trade deficit shrank more than expected in November. The Commerce Department said Tuesday that U.S. international trade deficit in goods and services decreased to 34.3 billion U.S. dollars in November from the revised 39.3 billion dollars in October, the lowest level in four years. The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against the six major currencies, rose 0.2 percent to 80.82 in later New York trading. However, the dollar lost some gains after Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President Eric Rosengren, known as a "dovish" policymaker, said the pace of economic recovery has been too slow and that longer inflation remains too low. Separately, U.S. Senate on Monday confirmed Janet Yellen as the next head of the Federal Reserve to replace outgoing Fed chairman Ben Bernanke whose term ends at the end of this month. The Fed will release minutes of its December policy meeting on Wednesday, during which the central bank announced the first tapering of its massive asset purchases by 10 billion dollars starting in January. Moreover, a non-farm payroll report for the final month of 2013 will be published on Friday by the Labor Department. In late New York trading, the euro slipped to 1.3618 dollars from 1.3635 dollars of the previous session, and the Australian dollar dropped to 0.8922 dollar from 0.8972 dollar. The British pound increased to 1.6407 dollars from 1.6405 dollars. The dollar bought 104.48 yen, higher than 104.28 yen of the previous session. The greenback edged up to 0.9086 Swiss franc from 0.9041, and moved up to 1.0766 Canadian dollars from 1.0654.