By Myra P. Saefong
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- The euro rallied Monday, gaining ground versus the U.S. dollar and the Japanese yen, with analysts attributing the rise to a dispute between China and Japan over islets in the East China Sea. The euro EURUSD +0.19% bought $1.3151, compared with $1.3121 late Friday. The dollar index DXY -0.06% , which tracks the greenback against a basket of six rivals, was last at 78.788, down from 78.864 late Friday. Against the yen, the euro EURJPY +0.75% bought ¥103.63 versus ¥102.85. "If there are doubts about Japan's economy because of repercussions from the disputes with China, then we are seeing this already in yen selling into the euro, and yen selling into dollars," said Richard Hastings, a macro strategist at Global Hunter Securities. "But the bigger move is the euro-yen trade which is substantial enough to push the euro higher against the dollar."
