Forexpros – The U.S. dollar was broadly higher against its major counterparts on Monday, as renewed concerns over the handling of Greece’s debt crisis supported demand for the safe haven greenback.
During European morning trade, the dollar was higher against the euro, with EUR/USD shedding 0.18% to hit 1.3175.
The euro came under pressure ahead of the March 8 deadline for bondholders to join the agreement under which they will exchange their existing Greek government bonds for new paper in a debt swap deal.
A failure to agree on the swap would put the country back on the brink of a sovereign debt default.
Sentiment was also hit after data showed that investor confidence in the euro zone for March improved less-than-expected, remaining in negative territory for the eighth consecutive month.
A separate report showed that the services sector in the single currency bloc contracted at a faster rate than initially expected in February, shrinking for the fifth time in six months.
The greenback was also higher against the pound, with GBP/USD falling 0.19% to hit 1.5806.
Earlier in the day, data showed that the service sector index in the U.K. declined more-than-expected in February, falling to 53.8 from 56.0 the previous month. Analysts had expected the index to decline to 55.0 in February.
The greenback was lower against the yen but higher against the Swiss franc, with USD/JPY dropping 0.70% to hit 81.23 and USD/CHF adding 0.14% to hit 0.9152.
Investors sold the greenback to lock in gains after the U.S. currency rose to a nine-month high against the yen on Friday.
The yen has come under pressure since a surprise decision by the Bank of Japan last month to loosen monetary policy and set a target inflation rate of 1%.
In Switzerland, official data showed earlier that retail sales rose significantly more-than-expected in January, climbing 4.4% and more than doubling expectations for a 2.0% gain.
Meanwhile, the greenback was higher against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand counterparts, with USD/CAD advancing 0.44% to hit 0.9936, AUD/USD declining 0.43% to hit 1.0686 and NZD/USD sliding 0.62% to hit 0.8240.
Data showed earlier that job advertisements in Australia rose 3.3% in February after a 7.5% increase the previous month, while company operating profits fell unexpectedly in the fourth quarter.
A separate report showed that Australia’s services sector contracted in February.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, added 0.07% to hit 79.55.
Elsewhere, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao cut the nation’s economic growth target to 7.5% for 2012 earlier, down from a previous target of 8%, in order to allow the pace of economic expansion room to moderate if necessary.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to produce government data on factory orders, while the Institute of Supply Management was to release a report on service sector growth.
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