The dollar was down on Wednesday morning in Asia, but remained near its strongest levels in 2021. Climbing U.S. Treasury yields investor nervousness about the U.S. Federal Reserve beginning asset tapering as economic challenges start to emerge, all capped losses for the safe-have asset. The U.S. Dollar Index that tracks the greenback against a basket of other currencies inched down 0.06% to 93.722. The USD/JPY pair inched up 0.02% to 111.52. Japan’s incumbent Liberal Democratic Party will vote for a leader, likely to be the country’s next prime minister, on Wednesday. Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yields were up 25 basis points in five sessions to 1.5548% as the Fed preps to begin asset tapering before the end of 2021 and inflation worries continue. Surging energy prices, concern about the growth outlook in China, with developer China Evergrande Group facing its latest bond interest payment interest on Wednesday, and rolling power outages that are impacting output all remained on investors’ radars. The pound took a particular beating overnight due to concerns over the economic impact of a shortage of gas and a scramble for fuel.