Forex Pros – The U.S. dollar was mixed against its major rivals on Monday, after Ireland requested a bailout from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, boosting risk appetite. During European morning trade, the greenback was down against the euro, with EUR/USD rising 0.47% to hit 1.3739. On Sunday, the Irish government bowed to pressure from other euro zone governments, who were worried that Ireland’s debt problems would spread to other vulnerable euro zone nations, such as Spain, Portugal and Greece. The greenback was also down against the pound with GBP/USD climbing 0.49% to hit 1.6061. But the greenback was up against the yen and the Swiss franc, with USD/JPY slipping 0.07% to hit 83.47 and USD/CHF shedding 0.31% to hit 0.9889. Elsewhere the greenback was down against its Canadian and Australian counterparts but up against its New Zealand cousin, with USD/CAD falling 0.32% to hit 1.0134, AUD/USD surging 0.72% to hit 0.9934 and NZD/USD shedding 0.46% to hit 0.7753. Earlier in the day, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said that it had revised its outlook on New Zealand's foreign currency sovereign credit ratings to negative from stable. The agency affirmed its AA+/A-1+ rating on the country's bonds. S&P said the revision was due to the New Zealand's vulnerability to external shocks. The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.43%. Later in the day, discussions between Irish officials with representatives from the IMF and EU leaders were due to begin.

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