Greenback eases back from 11-year highs, as investors take profits after Friday's rally
On Monday the dollar backed off eleven-and-a-half year highs against its peers as investors took profits in
the wake of a rally driven by Friday’s upbeat jobs report.
Friday’s stronger-than-expected U.S. employment report strengthened expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates around the middle of this year, boosting the dollar.
EUR/USD was last up 0.30% to 1.0872, recovering from overnight lows of 1.0823.
The direction of the euro is carefully eyed, as the eurogroup of euro zone finance ministers prepared to hold talks in Brussels later in the day to discuss proposed Greek economic reforms.
Although last month Greece reached a temporary agreement with its lenders to extend its bailout by four months, it must complete a bailout review before it can access further financial aid.
Also, the European Central Bank confirmed on Monday that it started asset purchases under its quantitative easing program.
The dollar was steady against the yen, with USD/JPY at 120.91, holding below Friday’s three-month highs of 121.27, while USD/CHF slid 0.19% to 0.9834.
The British currency gained ground, with GBP/USD rising 0.53% to 1.5116.
The commodity exposed currencies were underpinned after data on Sunday showed that Chinese exports picked up in the first two months of this year.
AUD/USD was steady at 0.7722, while NZD/USD was last up 0.19% to 0.7375 and USD/CAD was down 0.37% to 1.2575.
