Forex Pros – The U.S. dollar was broadly higher against its major counterparts on in holiday thinned trade on Monday, after news reports confirmed that Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden had been killed in a U.S. military operation in Pakistan.
During European morning trade, the greenback dipped against the euro, with EUR/USD easing up 0.04% to hit 1.4811.
The dollar strengthened on the view that that bin Laden’s death could make the U.S. less subject to further terrorist attacks, but some analysts remained skeptical of whether it would reduce the security risks facing the U.S.
But the greenback was up against the pound, with GBP/USD slipping 0.15% to hit 1.6683.
In addition, the greenback was higher against the yen and the Swiss franc with USD/JPY rising 0.33% to hit 81.46 and USD/CHF climbing 0.47% to hit 0.8694.
Earlier in the day, official data showed that Swiss retail sales slipped unexpectedly in March, while a separate report showed that manufacturing activity in Switzerland unexpectedly declined in April.
Elsewhere, the greenback was up against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand counterparts, with USD/CAD gaining 0.36% to hit 0.9484, AUD/USD slipping 0.22% to hit 1.0946 and NZD/USD shedding 0.32% to hit 0.8072.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, eased up 0.07%.
Later in the day, the U.S. Institute for Supply Management was to publish its manufacturing PMI.
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