Investing.com - The dollar edged lower against the euro on Monday as the single currency steadied following steep losses in the previous two sessions, while the yen was weaker against the euro and the dollar.
EUR/USD was last trading at 1.3761, not far from the one-month trough of 1.3744 reached late Friday.
The euro fell to one-month lows against the dollar on Friday, one day after ECB President Mario Draghi said the bank is “comfortable” with acting to shore up growth and stop inflation from falling too low at its next meeting in June.
On Monday, ECB Vice President Vitor Constancio said the medium term inflation outlook will be the main criteria the bank considers when it decides whether to implement fresh policy measures.
He said the ECB was considering a wide range of policy options but stopped short of indicating what the bank may decide.
He also said the ECB cannot ignore the strength of the euro but added that the exchange rate is not a policy target.
Elsewhere Monday, International Monetary Fund head Christine Lagarde renewed calls for more stimulus from the ECB, warning that persistently low inflation rates posed a serious threat to the European recovery.
The euro gained ground against the yen, with EUR/JPY up 0.29% to 140.48, up from Friday’s two-month lows of 139.87.
The dollar also moved higher against the yen, with USD/JPY advancing 0.24% to 102.09, pulling back from the three-week trough of 101.42 hit last week.
The pound was trading close to recent multi-year highs against the dollar, with GBP/USD up 0.20% to 1.6883, holding below last week’s peaks of 1.6993.
Demand for sterling continued to be underpinned by expectations for a U.K. rate hike in the early part of next year after a recent series of strong economic data indicated that the recovery is deepening.
Elsewhere, USD/CHF rose to fresh one-month highs of 0.8874. The Swiss franc was little changed after official data on Monday showed that Swiss retail sales jumped 3.0% from a year earlier in March, ahead of expectations for a 2.3% increase.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars were steady, with AUD/USD at 0.9364 and NZD/USD trading at 0.8614. Meanwhile, USD/CAD edged down 0.06% to 1.0890.
The US Dollar Index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was almost unchanged for the day at 79.91.