Investing.com - The dollar held onto modest gains against the other major currencies in quiet trade on Monday, as Friday’s upbeat U.S. data continued to support the greenback, while investors eyed an upcoming report on U.S. manufacturing activity due later in the day.
USD/JPY was little changed at 101.37, not far from last Thursday’s one-week highs of 101.86.
The greenback strengthened after the University of Michigan said in a revised report on Friday that its consumer sentiment index hit 91.2 in September, up from a previous estimate of 89.8 and beating expectations for a reading of 90.0.
Data also showed that the Chicago purchasing managers’ index rose to 54.2 this month from 51.5 the previous month, exceeding expectations for an uptick to 52.0.
EUR/USD held steady at 1.1234.
Market sentiment remained mildly supported following reports late last week that Deutsche Bank (DE:DBKGn) is nearing a deal to settle a mortgage-securities investigation by paying a $5.4 billion fine, well below the Justice Department’s original proposal of $14 billion.
The pound dropped to three-month lows, with GBP/USD down 0.86% at 1.2866, while USD/CHF held at 0.9718.
Research group Markit said its U.K. manufacturing PMI jumped to 55.4 last month from a reading of 53.3 in August. That was its highest level since 2014. Analysts had expected the index to drop to 52.1 in August.
But investors remained cautious after U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May said on Sunday that she would trigger the process of leaving the European Union by the end of March.
Triggering Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty will give Britain a two-year period to clinch one of the most complex deals in Europe since World War Two, and will redefine the country's ties with its biggest trading partner.
The Australian dollar was stronger, with AUD/USD up 0.18% at 0.7673, while NZD/USD fell 0.25% to 0.7267.
Elsewhere, USD/CAD slipped 0.27% to trade at 1.3091.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.08% at 95.46, after hitting a more than one-week high of 95.89 on Friday.