Forexpros – The U.S. dollar was broadly higher against its major counterparts on Monday, after Friday’s bleak U.S. jobs data and ongoing concerns over the debt crisis in the euro zone prompted investors to dump riskier assets.
During European morning trade, the greenback was higher against the euro, with EUR/USD shedding 0.42% to hit 1.4144.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling party were defeated in local elections on Sunday, amid dissatisfaction over her handling of the euro zone debt crisis, adding to pressure on the single currency.
The greenback was also higher against the pound, with GBP/USD falling 0.46% to hit 1.6143.
Earlier in the day, a report showed that service sector activity in the U.K. posted the biggest drop in more than a decade in August, as an increasingly fragile economic environment undermined confidence.
Meanwhile, the greenback was almost unchanged against the yen but was down against the Swiss franc, with USD/JPY dipping 0.01% to hit 76.79 and USD/CHF dropping 0.34% to hit 0.7856.
On Friday, the U.S. Labor Department said the U.S. economy added no new jobs in August for the first time in nearly a year. Economists had expected non-farm payrolls to rise by 74,000 last month. The jobless rate remained unchanged at 9.1%.
Elsewhere, the greenback was higher against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand counterparts, with USD/CAD rising 0.19% to hit 0.9871, AUD/USD shedding 0.62% to hit 1.0574 and NZD/USD tumbling 0.90% to hit 0.8404.
Earlier Monday, official data showed that Australian company profits rose sharply in the second quarter, due to the country’s mining boom. A separate report showed that Australia’s service sector expanded in August, after contracting in the two previous months.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, rose 0.32% to hit 75.06.
Also Monday, markets in the U.S. were to remain closed for the Labor Day holiday.
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