Euro up on dollar after German confidence data

The euro edged higher Tuesday helped by a surge in a key German confidence index, while the Japanese yen gained slightly despite fresh pressure from premier Shinzo Abe on the central bank.

The euro rose to $1.3390 at 2200 GMT from $1.3353 late Monday.

The dollar slipped to 93.54 yen from 93.95 yen, while the euro went to 125.24 yen from 125.43 yen.

Fresh news from Germany helped boost the euro.

The widely watched German investor confidence index calculated by the ZEW economic institute soared to 48.2 points in February from 31.5 points in January. That was its highest level since April 2010.

The reading beat market expectations for a much more modest increase to just 35 points this month, stoking hopes that the eurozone could edge towards economic recovery this year.

"This is just the latest in a long list of surveys out of the eurozone which suggest 2013 is going to be the year when the region bottoms out and begins the move back towards recovery," said Alpari trader Craig Erlam.

The yen's gain came amid continuing discussions in Tokyo over how much easing the central bank can implement to boost the economy.

Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso talked down the impact of easing policies on the yen, said Benjamin Spier of DailyFX.

His comments "seemed to fall in line with earlier instructions from the G20 to officials to refrain from talking about the exchange rate," Spier said, helping the yen to strengthen.

The British pound fell to $1.5425 from $1.5467. The dollar was lower against the Swiss franc, slipping to 0.9225 francs from 0.9233 francs.