Investing.com - The dollar was broadly higher against the other major currencies on Monday as investors awaited U.S. data on retail sales amid ongoing speculation over future plans for the Federal Reserve’s monetary easing program.
During European late morning trade, the dollar was higher against the euro, with EUR/USD down 0.27% to 1.3031.
Demand for the dollar was underpinned by expectations that the Fed will start to unwind its USD85 billion-a-month bond buying program later this year, while other world central banks will continue to maintain loose monetary policy for the foreseeable future.
The dollar fell sharply last week after Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said the U.S. economy still needed monetary stimulus.
Elsewhere, the dollar was higher against the pound, with GBP/USD falling 0.27% to 1.5066.
The dollar extended gains against the yen, with USD/JPY climbing 0.56% to 99.79 after data showed that Chinese economic growth met expectations in the second quarter, easing concerns over a slowdown in the world’s second largest economy.
Official data showed that Chinese gross domestic product expanded 7.5% in the second quarter from a year earlier, following growth of 7.7% in the three months to March and in line with expectations.
Separate reports showed that Chinese retail sales rose to13.3% on a year-over-year basis in June, up from 12.9% in May, while industrial production declined to 8.9% in June from 9.2% the previous month.
Markets in Japan remained closed for a national holiday on Monday.
The dollar was also higher against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF up 0.35% to 0.9494.
The greenback was mixed against its Australian, New Zealand and Canadian counterparts, with AUD/USD easing up 0.16% to 0.9063, NZD/USD dipping 0.07% to 0.7769 and USD/CAD rising 0.22% to 1.0418.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars touched session highs earlier in the trading day following the release of the Chinese data.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was up 0.29% to 83.34.
The U.S. was to release data on the Empire State manufacturing index as well as the government report on retail sales later Monday.
