The Hong Kong dollar traded softer earlier in the day as some players covered short US dollar position after robust US economic reports reinforced expectations for more interest rate increases.
But some traders said the local currency was likely to remain rangebound with a firm bias on expectations that upcoming IPOs would draw inflows and on lingering speculation over a further appreciation of the yuan.
The US Federal Reserve's policy-setting arm, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), meets later in the day and is widely expected to raise rate by a quarter percentage point to 4.0 percent, the 12th consecutive rise since June 2004.