The dollar was steady against the yen and euro but dealers say underlying sentiment on the US unit remains negative and will likely pressure the currency in the short-term.

The dollar touched its high at Tk 58.4350 per unit yesterday and most deals traded between Tk 58.4250 and Tk 58.4300 slightly lower than its previous range on Thursday, dealers of different commercial banks said.

The demand for the greenback was lower from importers when most banks had sufficient inflow of remittances. Bangladeshi people living abroad are now sending dollar to their relatives on the occasion of holy Eid festival, dealers of different commercial banks said.

The Eid-ul Fitre, the largest religious festival of Muslim community would be celebrated through out the world at the end of this week. Bangladesh government already announced festival holidays for three consecutive days from Tuesday on the occasion of Eid festival.

Eid festival is knocking at the doors so every one is now busy with last minutes shopping. Exporters are selling their foreign currencies but importers are not packing their offices, dealers said.

The volume of foreign currency trade was extremely thin with holiday in Japan when dealers expected the dollar-yen would stay stuck around current trading level, they said.

The dollar was at 108.87 yen in early Asian trade yesterday, up from 108.74 late Friday while the euro was slightly weaker at 1.1910 dollars against 1.1916 late Friday in New York and 129.74 yen from 129.49, dealers said.

Looking ahead, currency analysts predicted the dollar may slip against the yen and euro because of heightened geopolitical concerns after the double suicide blasts in Istanbul last week.

Growing fears of rising US trade protectionism after Washington announced last week it would impose quotas on Chinese textiles are also expected to pressure the dollar against the yen and euro, they said.

Against regional currencies, the dollar was mostly firmer. It rose to 1,203.2 South Korean won from 1,193.4 on Friday, 1.7232 Singapore dollar from 1.7215, 55.595 Philippine pesos from 55.32 and 34.057 Taiwan dollars from 34.035.

The dollar slipped to 8,498 Indonesian rupiah from 8,520, and 39.845 Thai baht from 39.863, dealers said.