Forexpros – The U.S. dollar was broadly lower against most of its major counterparts on Monday, as the approval by Greek lawmakers of a series of long-awaited austerity measures supported demand for riskier assets.
During European morning trade, the dollar was down against the euro, with EUR/USD rising 0.49% to hit 1.3263.
The euro found support after Greece’s parliament approved on Sunday a set of austerity measures needed to secure a second bailout package.
The measures include cuts in private-sector wages, 15,000 public-sector job cuts and a further EUR3 billion in government-spending cuts this year alone.
However, Greece must still find a further EUR325 million of spending cuts and give binding assurances the plan will be implemented before Wednesday when euro zone finance ministers meet to decide on a new EUR130 billion bailout.
The greenback was also lower against the pound, with GBP/USD adding 0.31% to hit 1.5804.
The greenback was higher against yen but lower against the Swiss franc, with USD/JPY advancing 0.14% to hit 77.72 and USD/CHF shedding 0.51% to hit 0.9118.
Official data showed earlier that Switzerland’s producer price index was unexpectedly flat in January, after advancing for the first time in eight months in the preceding month, confounding expectations for a 0.2% increase.
Also Monday, preliminary data showed that Japan’s gross domestic product fell more-than-expected in the fourth quarter, ticking down 0.6% after a 1.4% rise the previous quarter.
Analysts had expected Japan’s GDP to fall 0.3% in the fourth quarter.
A separate report showed that Japanese tertiary industry activity rose more-than-expected in December, adding 1.4% after a 0.6% decline the previous month, surpassing expectations for a 0.9% rise.
Elsewhere, the greenback was lower against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand counterparts, with USD/CAD slipping 0.29% to hit 0.9983, AUD/USD climbing 0.80% to hit 1.0758 and NZD/USD jumping 1.18% to hit 0.8363.
In Australia, official data showed earlier that home loans rose more-than-expected in December, climbing 2.3% after a 1.8% rise the previous month.
Analysts had expected home loans to rise 1.9% in December.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, slid 0.37% to hit 78.82.
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