Forexpros – The U.S. dollar was mixed against its rivals in slow Monday trade, while sentiment on the euro was buoyed by better-than-anticipated Greek economic data and a successful Italian government bond auction.
During U.S. afternoon trade, the dollar was lower against the euro, with EUR/USD rising 0.41% to 1.2341.
Supporting the single currency, Italy wintnessed borrowing costs rise only slightly after it auctioned the full targeted amount of EUR8 billion of 12-month government bonds earlier, at an average yield of 1.69%, up from 1.55% previously.
Elsewhere, official data showed that Greece’s economy contracted less-than-expected in the second quarter.
Greek gross domestic product contracted by 6.2% in the three months to June, less than the 7.0% contraction forecast by economists and slightly less than the 6.5% contraction seen in the first quarter.
But sentiment on the euro remained fragile amid uncertainty over the details and timing of proposed European Central Bank bond buying, aimed at lowering Spanish and Italian borrowing costs.
Elsewhere, the greenback inched down against the pound, withGBP/USD ticking up 0.06% to 1.5696 and was weaker against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF down 0.55% to 0.9719.
The greenback edged higher against the yen, with USD/JPY inching up 0.05% to 78.30.
Weak data out of Japan earlier fuelled expectations that world central banks will implement more easing measures to spur the economic recovery.
Official data showed that Japan’s economy grew just 0.3% in the three months to June, half as much as expectations for a 0.6% expansion, from an upwardly revised 1.2% in the first quarter, as export demand was hit by the debt crisis in the euro zone.
The greenback was higher against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand counterparts, with USD/CAD rising 0.26% to 0.9935, AUD/USDshedding 0.56% to trade at 1.0516 and NZD/USD down 0.50% to 0.8089.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.29% to 82.39.
Trade looked likely to remain subdued on Monday, with no significant economic data releases on the calendar, while volumes were light with many market participants on summer holidays.
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