By Virginia Harrison, MarketWatch
SYDNEY (MarketWatch) — The dollar strengthened against the euro in Asian trading hours on Monday, as investors looked to a summit of European leaders this week.
The dollar index DXY +0.38% which measures the greenback against a basket of six currencies, rose to 82.349 from 82.267 in late North American trading on Friday.
The euro EURUSD -0.44% slipped to $1.2534 from $1.2564 in late North American trading on Friday.
A two-day summit of European leaders kicks off on Thursday, with attempts to strengthen fiscal integration within the region expected to dominate focus.
It follows moves from the European Central Bank on Friday to improve access to some of its funding operations by saying it would soon accept a wider range of collateral for loans.
Against the Japanese yen, the dollar USDJPY -0.49% bought ¥80.19, down from ¥80.46 in late North American trading on Friday.
The Australian dollar held above parity with the U.S. dollar AUDUSD -0.40% AUDUSD -0.40% , recently trading at US$1.0028.
AUDUSD -0.40% Still, Tim Waterer, senior trader at CMC Markets in Sydney, said continued strength of the risk-tied currency was threatened by lingering concerns about global growth, following a raft of soft manufacturing data released last week.
“One factor perhaps keeping the Australian dollar supported is the expectation that should the situation abroad deteriorate further, the Federal Reserve still has [a third round of quantitative easing] in its arsenal, and this prospect is placing a cap on upside moves in the U.S. dollar on safe-haven flows,” Waterer said.
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Virginia Harrison is a MarketWatch reporter based in Sydney.
