Forexpros – The U.S. dollar was mixed against its major counterparts on Monday, as sustained fears over a possible Greek exit from the euro zone sapped demand for the euro and weighed on market sentiment.
During U.S. morning trade, the dollar was slightly higher against the euro, with EUR/USD slipping 0.09% to hit 1.2767.
The euro was higher against the greenback earlier after a weekend summit of the G8 nations saw leaders affirm that they want Greece to remain in the euro zone and pledge to take measures to shore up growth in their economies.
But sentiment remained fragile after leaders failed to reach an agreement on how to calm market turmoil stemming from the crisis in the region.
Concerns over political turmoil in Greece eased somewhat after opinion polls indicated that pro-bailout party, New Democracy was leading the polls ahead of fresh elections, due to be held on June 17.
Uncertainty over the outcome of the elections has sparked fears over Greece’s ability to honor its financial commitments and its possible exit from the euro zone.
Meanwhile, concerns over the situation in Spain continued after the country’s finance minister said earlier that the country’s economy continued to contract in the second quarter. The comments came after data on Friday showed that that Spain’s 2011 budget deficit was larger than previously stated.
The greenback was little changed against the pound, with GBP/USD inching down 0.01% to hit 1.5811.
Elsewhere, the greenback was higher against the yen and the Swiss franc, with USD/JPY rising 0.41% to hit 79.34 and USD/CHF adding 0.09% to hit 0.9405.
The greenback was broadly lower against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand counterparts, with USD/CAD dipping 0.04% to hit 1.0215, AUD/USD climbing 0.13% to hit 0.9856 and NZD/USD rising 0.58% to hit 0.7602.
The commodity linked Australian and New Zealand dollars found support after comments by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Sunday indicated that Beijing was willing to do more to support growth in the domestic economy.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was up 0.10%, to trade at 81.31.
Markets were looking ahead to the outcome of a meeting between German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble and his newly appointed French counterpart, Pierre Moscovici, later in the day, as European Union leaders prepare for Wednesday’s summit meeting.
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