Forexpros – The euro trimmed losses against the U.S. dollar and the yen in subdued trade on Monday, as trading volumes remained thin with financial markets in Asia, the U.K. and the U.S. closed for the New Year holidays.
During European morning trade, the euro pared losses against the greenback, trading at 1.2954, up from the session low of 1.2922.
The single currency was almost unchanged against the yen, with EUR/JPY dipping 0.02% to trade at 99.64 after falling to a low of 99.67 during late Asian trade.
On Friday, the euro fell below JPY100 for the first time since June 2001 as concerns over the ongoing financial crisis in the euro zone weighed.
Earlier in the day, data showed that the final euro zone manufacturing purchasing managers’ index for December was unchanged at a 28-month low of 46.9, confirming an earlier preliminary estimate.
A reading of less than 50 indicates a contraction in activity, while a figure of more than 50 signals expansion.
Commenting on the report, Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit said “euro zone manufacturing is clearly undergoing another recession. Despite the rate of decline easing slightly in December, production appears to have been collapsing across the single currency area at a quarterly rate of approximately 1.5% in the final quarter of 2011”.
The euro was higher against the broadly weaker pound, with EUR/GBP adding 0.13% to hit 0.8346. The greenback was also higher against sterling, with GBP/USD shedding 0.17% to hit 1.5521.
Meanwhile, the greenback remained fractionally higher against the yen and erased small early losses against the Swiss franc, with USD/JPY easing up 0.05% to hit 76.91 and USD/CHF inching up 0.05% to trade at 0.9394, up from a session low of 0.9372.
Elsewhere, the greenback was steady against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand cousins, with USD/CAD shedding 0.22% to hit 1.0193, AUD/USD easing up 0.15% to hit 1.0222 and NZD/USD rising 0.10% to hit 0.7779.
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