The dollar was almost unchanged against the yen in Asian trade Tuesday, with investors reluctant to push up the greenback any further ahead of U.S. and eurozone indicators.

Around 0450 GMT, the dollar was at Y119.95 after briefly touching Y120.04, compared with Y119.97 late Monday in New York.

The greenback followed on from its overnight gains triggered by an uptick in U.S. Treasury yields, but found it difficult to stay above the Y120 mark, close to the upper end of its recent trading range between Y118.50 and Y120.50.

“Investors are sitting on the sidelines, waiting for” how overseas markets react to Germany’s ZEW indicator of economic sentiment and U.S. housing construction data, said IG Securities market analyst Junichi Ishikawa.

Mr. Ishikawa and other analysts said that rather than making more headway into the upside, the dollar was likely to tread water or weaken unless the latest economic data pointed to a stronger U.S. recovery.

“The dollar strength since yesterday is unlikely to persist unless broadly better-than-expected U.S. economic indicators come out later today,” said Mr. Ishikawa.

In that scenario, Mr. Ishikawa said the dollar could reach Y120.50, close to a high of Y120.51 set on May 5, provided U.S. private housing construction data was sufficiently upbeat to convince investors that a soft patch since earlier this year was merely the result of temporary factors.

But with market participants generally less convinced that a rate increase by the Federal Reserve will take place by the end of this year, “the sustainability of gains in U.S. long-term yields and the dollar is uncertain,” said Gaitame.Com Research Institute senior researcher Takuya Kanda in a morning note.

That suggests the greenback could soften, though the U.S. currency continues to look relatively immune to selling pressure during Asian trade due to the strong dip-buying appetite of Japanese pension funds and institutional investors.

Mr. Ishikawa said the dollar will most likely remain rangebound, assuming a strong reading in German economic sentiment followed by downbeat U.S. housing construction, laying the groundwork for the euro to challenge $1.15 on the back of an increasing yield differentials between German bonds and U.S Treasurys.

The euro was lower at $1.1304 from $1.1316. The common currency was at Y135.59 from Y135.72.