Traders moved back to the perceived safety of the U.S. dollar and the Japanese yen on Monday after economic data and bank-sector stress results had led to greenback selling last week.
The euro fell 0.3% to $1.3594 and the British pound dropped 0.8% to $1.5108.
The dollar fell 0.6% to 97.90 yen, but the dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, rose 0.2% to 82.78.
Last week traders became more confident on the health of the economy and the banking sector following the release of bank-sector capital requirements by the government and data showing job losses decelerating in April.
Citigroup analysts said its G10 economic surprise index rose to a 22-month high last week.
"And while much of the improvement in growth has seemingly been driven by an end to the acute global inventory cycle, a positive development last week was signs of stabilization in some labour markets. While the U.S. employment report was hardly strong, it did suggest the pace of job losses in the coming months will likely ease -- we have seen similar messages in other U.S. labor data. Meanwhile, reports from Canada and Australia both showed employment growth turning positive," they said.
However, The Wall Street Journal reported that the Federal Reserve watered down the capital-raising demands after protests from banks. See story.
U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is due to deliver a speech on Monday about the stress tests.
