Dollar stays under pressure near 15-year lows

The dollar fetched 80.68 yen, down from 80.82 in New York late Monday.

On Monday the greenback fell to as low as 80.41 yen, its weakest since April 1995. The euro fetched $1.3963 , slightly down from 1.3969 in New York. It bought 112.68 yen from 112.88 Monday.

Investors were cautious amid efforts by Tokyo to talk down the yen, signalling it may be prepared to intervene despite a weekend G20 agreement to "refrain from competitive devaluation of currencies".

Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda said on Tuesday "the moves yesterday (Monday) were a bit one-sided", alerting investors that Tokyo may consider another yen-selling intervention after its first foray into markets in six years last month.

Noda's rhetoric illustrated the government's continued concern about the persistently strong yen, which undermines the export-led economy by making Japanese products less competitive overseas and eroding repatriated profits.

"I think there might be an intervention when the (dollar) breaks 80.00," Tomohiro Nishida, senior dealer at Chuo Mitsui Trust and Banking, told Dow Jones Newswires.

"But if they do intervene at any time, the dollar will surge by at least one yen or two. That's why it's hard to sell the pair below 80.50."

Japan has reduced its official interest rate to almost zero and last month intervened in the foreign exchange market for the first time in six years to sell the yen.

But the moves failed to halt the Japanese currency's ascent.

The dollar has slumped on expectations that the US central bank will print more money to inject cash into its banking system and stimulate growth, diluting the value of the currency.

On Monday investors resumed dumping the dollar after Group of 20 economies agreed to avoid tit-for-tat currency devaluations but did not set specific targets.

The G20 finance ministers' agreement in South Korea underwhelmed markets looking for a strong stand from the developed and emerging-market countries against beggar-thy-neighbour currency policies ahead of a November summit in Seoul.

Dealers believe the dollar selling will continue at least until a policy meeting by the Federal Reserve next week, which is widely expected to ease its credit grip further.