The U.S. dollar was little changed against its major counterparts Monday as Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip boosted dollar-denominated oil prices. Fears of a cut in Middle East oil supplies pushed crude oil prices to as high as $42.20 on Globex, though the contract later pared gains and closed 6% higher at $40.02. See oil story. The U.S. dollar, which often trades inversely to dollar-denominated oil and gold, fell against the euro and yen. The euro advanced to $1.4013, up about 0.1% from $1.4031 in late North American trading on Friday. It earlier rose above $1.4300. "Euro strength and dollar weakness further emerge in thin trading activity as geopolitical uncertainty creeps higher," said Ashraf Laidi, chief market strategist at CMC Markets, in emailed commentary. The dollar fell 0.4% versus the Japanese currency , buying 90.40 yen. Rising tension in the Middle East pushed oil higher as Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip continued for a third day and the country's Defense Minister Ehud Barak reportedly said Israel was fighting a "war to the death" with Hamas. See more on air strikes. The dollar index , which measures the greenback against a basket of six major counterparts, traded at 81.04 from 80.91 on Friday. Gold futures rose $4.10 to $875.30 an ounce. They earlier rose to their highest level in almost two months. See gold report. The dollar fell about 2.1% versus the Swiss franc , a traditional safe haven currency, to $1.047. The Australian dollar rose about 1% versus the U.S. currency to 68.7 cents. The euro soared to a new record high against the British pound on Monday. The common currency advanced to a high of 96.30 pence before trading closer to 97.20 pence. The euro has 3.9% versus the dollar this year. The dollar index has advanced 5% in 2008.

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