INV: Dollar rises against other majors in quiet trade
Investing.com - The dollar rose against a basket of other major currencies on Monday, as growing expectations for a near-term U.S. rate hike continued to support the greenback and as trading volumes were expected to remain thin with no major U.S. data to be released throughout the day.
Demand for the dollar remained supported by expectations for higher interest rates, as investors regained confidence that the U.S. economy would continue to recover after recent economic reports pointed to a slowdown at the start of the year.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.54% to 100.17, the highest level since March 17.
EUR/USD dropped 0.61% to one-month lows of 1.0537.
Sentiment on the euro remained vulnerable amid ongoing uncertainty over Greece’s bailout. Talks between Athens and its lenders on proposed economic reforms were expected to resume later Monday, ahead of a meeting of euro area finance ministers on April 24.
The pound was also lower, with GBP/USD slipping 0.19% to 1.4604, the lowest level since June 2010.
Sterling weakened after data on Friday showed that U.K. industrial production edged up 0.1% in February, undershooting forecasts of a 0.4% gain.
The smaller than expected increase in industrial output was due in large part to a 12% annual decline in oil and gas production, the largest drop since August 2013.
The soft data sparked concerns over the outlook for first quarter U.K. growth.
Elsewhere, the dollar was higher against the yen and the Swiss franc, with USD/JPY climbing 0.46% to 102.73 and with USD/CHF up 0.65% to 0.9856.
The Australian, New Zealand and Canadian dollars were broadly weaker, with AUD/USD tumbling 1.40% to 0.7575 and NZD/USD losing 1.34% to 0.7439, while USD/CAD gained 0.59% to trade at 1.2638.
The export-related currencies came under pressure after data earlier showed that China's trade surplus narrowed to $3.08 billion in March from $60.60 billion the previous month. Analysts had expected the trade surplus to narrow to $45.35 billion last month.
China is Australia's biggest export partner and New Zealand's second biggest export partner.
