Forexpros – The dollar extended Friday’s losses into Monday as investors ditched safe-haven assets and chased riskier venues such as equities and higher-yielding currencies.
Solid jobs data out of the U.S. fueled the greenback’s selloff as did talk central banks worldwide are prepared to roll out monetary stimulus measures to spur more recovery.
In Asian trading on Monday, EUR/USD was up 0.08% at 1.2398.
The U.S. economy added a net 163,000 net nonfarm payrolls in July, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, far more than market expectations for a gain of 100,000 and well above June’s revised figure of 64,000, which sent the dollar falling on Friday and into early Monday as well.
The risk-on trading session also continued on sentiment central banks may jolt their economies with monetary easing measures.
Japan begins a monetary policy meeting this week, while Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will speak in public later Monday, with markets hoping the top U.S. central banker will shed more light on a need for Fed intervention.
Elsewhere in Europe, expectations that the European Central Bank is growing closer to reactivating its policy of buying sovereign debt in order to push yields down in Spain and Italy also sent the dollar falling.
ECB President Mario Draghi indicated last week that such a move was possible.
Greece, meanwhile, pledged over the weekend to meet austerity demands in exchange for funding from a EUR130 billion bailout facility arranged earlier this year, which further bolstered the euro.
The greenback, meanwhile, was up against the pound, with GBP/USD trading down 0.16% at 1.5618.
The dollar was down against the yen, with USD/JPY trading down 0.06% at 78.42, and down against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF trading down 0.09% at 0.9696.
The dollar was mixed against its cousins in Canada, Australia and New Zealand, with USD/CAD down 0.05% at 1.0007, AUD/USD down 0.06% at 1.0562 and NZD/USD down 0.12% at 0.8179.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.07% at 82.35.
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