Forexpros - The U.S. dollar was higher against almost all of its major counterparts on Monday, as concerns over rising Spanish bond yields dominated market sentiment, supporting safe haven demand. During European morning trade, the dollar was up against the euro, with EUR/USD shedding 0.51% to hit 1.3010. The cost of insuring Spanish sovereign debt against default rose to a fresh record earlier, pushing the yield on the country’s 10-year bonds back above the 6% level, amid concerns that the country will be unable to meet deficit reduction targets. Market sentiment looked set to remain cautious ahead of an auction of two and 10-year Spanish governments bonds later in the week, which was being seen as a key test of market appetite for the country’s debt. The greenback was modestly higher against the pound, with GBP/USD slipping 0.08% to hit 1.5833. Sterling remained supported after recent economic data indicated that the recovery in the U.K. is gaining momentum, easing concerns the Bank of England may implement fresh stimulus measures. Elsewhere, the greenback was trading close to a six-week low against the broadly stronger yen, but was up against the Swiss franc, with USD/JPY shedding 0.43% to hit 80.56 and USD/CHF adding 0.55% to hit 0.9244. In Switzerland, official data showed that the producer price index rose less-than-expected last month, climbing 0.3%, disappointing expectations for a 0.5% gain after increasing by 0.8% in February. Elsewhere, the greenback was higher against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand counterparts, with USD/CAD easing up 0.10% to hit 1.0005, AUD/USD losing 0.32% to hit 1.0339 and NZD/USD sliding 0.34% to hit 0.8201. The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was up 0.32%, at 80.29. Later Monday, the U.S. was to release government data on retail sales and a report on manufacturing activity in New York, as well as official data on net long-term securities transactions and business inventories.

Source