Investing.com - The dollar extended gains against against the other major currencies in quiet trade on Monday, despite the release of weak U.S. housing report as the greenback continued to recover from the Federal Reserve's decision to hold interest rates this month.
The dollar was higher against the yen, with USD/JPY up 0.47% at 120.56.
In a report, the U.S. National Association of Realtors said that existing home sales declined 4.8% to 5.31 million units last month from 5.58 million in July. Analysts had expected existing home sales to fall 1.3% to 5.51 million units in August.
The greenback regained strength after the U.S. central bank left short-term interest rates unchanged last Thursday, amid concerns over soft inflation and the effects of recent market volatility on the U.S. economy.
The Fed said it wanted to see "some further improvement in the labor market," and be "reasonably confident" that inflation will increase before hiking rates.
While the decision was not completely unexpected the Fed’s concerns over the uncertain outlook for global growth rattled financial markets and pressured the dollar lower.
Markets in Japan remained closed on Monday for a national holiday.
EUR/USD declined 0.88% to 1.1199.
The euro came under pressure after European Central Bank Chief Economist Peter Praet reiterated Saturday that the bank is prepared to enlarge its monetary stimulus program if necessary to combat risks from global economic turbulence.
Earlier this month the ECB cut its forecasts for growth and inflation and indicated that its trillion-euro bond-buying program could be scaled up.
Elsewhere in the euro zone, Alexis Tsipras was set to form a new government in Greece after his left-wing Syriza party won a second general election in less than nine months.
Elsewhere, the dollar was higher against the pound and the Swiss franc, with GBP/USD down 0.20% at 1.5598 and with USD/CHF rising 0.33% to 0.9723.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars were weaker, with AUD/USD down 0.70% at 0.7138 and with NZD/USD tumbling 1.30% to 0.6314.
The Westpac Banking Corporation earlier reported that its consumer sentiment index for New Zealand fell to 106 in the third quarter from a reading of 113 in the three months to June.
Meanwhile, USD/CAD added 0.13% to trade at 1.3245.
Statistics Canada reported on Monday that wholesale sales were flat in July, compared to expectations for a 0.8% increase, after a 1.3% gain the previous month.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.67% at 96.00.