US dollar ticks up

The U.S. dollar strengthened in late trading on Tuesday.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, went up 0.67 percent to 99.046 at 15:00 (2000 GMT).

In late New York trading, the euro dropped to 1.1603 dollars from 1.1707 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound fell to 1.3334 dollars from 1.3422 dollars in the previous session.

The U.S. dollar bought 157.76 Japanese yen, higher than 157.23 Japanese yen in the previous session. The U.S. dollar increased to 0.7822 Swiss francs from 0.7784 Swiss francs, and it lost to 1.3667 Canadian dollars from 1.3673 Canadian dollars.

The U.S. dollar was up to 9.2882 Swedish Kronor from 9.1347 Swedish Kronor.

The 2026 Mobile World Congress (MWC) opened on Monday in Barcelona, Spain, under the theme "The IQ Era", with a focus on intelligent infrastructure, AI connectivity and integration, enterprise-level AI applications, AI ecosystem collaboration, inclusive technology and innovation-driven transformation.

Marking the 20th anniversary of the event's presence in Barcelona, this year's MWC has drawn around 2,900 exhibitors, sponsors and partners.

More than 1,200 speakers are taking part in discussions, with country and regional pavilions and technology-themed exhibition areas representing over 100 countries and regions.

Participants include global mobile network operators, device manufacturers and technology firms.

Amid the bustling exhibition halls, attendees highlighted the pervasive impact of artificial intelligence on both personal routines and professional workflows.

"The topic I think that really impressed is the AI influence because I use it every day," said a visitor.

"AI is, I mean, more and more getting into daily life for everybody. AI is reshaping the way people work. It increases productivity," said another visitor.

Network capabilities centering around AI applications also dominated discussions, where many companies unveiled their visions for 6G technology.

"This new spectrum band will adopt ultra-massive antenna arrays and energy-efficient, lightweight engineering solutions to meet operators' needs, bridging the current 5G era and the coming 6G," said Zhao Dong, vice president of Huawei's wireless networking product line and the company's chief marketing officer.

A China Pavilion has been set up at the congress for the first time, featuring major Chinese companies including China Mobile, China Unicom, Huawei, ZTE, Honor and Xiaomi, showcasing their latest advancements in mobile communications and AI technologies.

Industry insiders believe that the collective appearance of Chinese enterprises is injecting new impetus for competition and cooperation into the global communication industry.

I'm seeing that Chinese company has made a lot of progress and they are competing very well in every technology field, especially in AI. And we've seen a lot of AI platforms, AI generative devices," said Mohamed Ben Amor, secretary-general of the Arab ICT Organization.