Investing.com - The dollar was broadly higher against the other major currencies on Monday as renewed concerns over the crisis in the euro zone weighed on market sentiment.
During European late morning trade, the greenback was trading close to two-week highs against the euro, with EUR/USD easing up 0.20% to 1.3395.
Sentiment on the single currency was hit by uncertainty ahead of upcoming elections in Italy and renewed political tensions in Spain where the government has become embroiled in a corruption scandal.
The euro also remained under pressure after the European Central Bank said Thursday that it would monitor developments in the markets to see if the stronger euro had an effect on the inflation outlook.
The euro found some support after Friday’s upbeat trade data out of China and the U.S. added to signs of a recovery in the global economy.
The greenback re-approached two-a-half year highs against the yen, with USD/JPY rising 0.56% to 93.22 as expectations for more aggressive easing by the Bank of Japan remained intact.
Investors were looking ahead to the outcome of Thursday’s BoJ policy meeting, as well as the G20 meeting starting Friday, which was expected to include discussions over competitive currency devaluation.
The greenback was hit session highs against the pound, with GBP/USD down 0.54% to 1.5712.
Sentiment on sterling was hit by expectations that the Bank of England will cut growth forecasts in its upcoming quarterly inflation report and warn that inflation is likely to remain above the bank’s 2% target until early 2015.
Elsewhere, the greenback was little changed against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF dipping 0.07% to 0.9162.
The greenback was broadly higher against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand counterparts, with USD/CAD rising 0.37% to 1.0066, AUD/USD falling 0.49% to 1.0273 and NZD/USD down 0.42% to 0.8323.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was up 0.15% to 80.41.
The eurogroup of euro zone finance ministers was to hold talks in Brussels later in the session, following last week’s European Union summit.
EU leaders reached an agreement on a seven year budget on Friday. European governments will contribute slightly less to this budget than they did for the previous seven year budget, following calls to curb spending by Brussels.
