Investing.com - The dollar was lower against the yen on Monday after data showing that Chinese manufacturing activity contracted for a fourth month in April bolstered safe haven demand while escalating conflict in Ukraine also supported the yen.
USD/JPY touched lows of 101.87, the weakest since April 16 and was last down 0.12% to 102.06.
The drop in the dollar came after the final reading of China’s HSBC manufacturing purchasing managers’ index came in at 48.1, down from a preliminary estimate of 48.3 and missing forecasts for an uptick to 48.4. A reading below 50 indicates a contraction.
The dollar was already under pressure after giving up gains late Friday sparked by a far stronger-than-forecast U.S. jobs report.
The dollar initially strengthened after official data showed that the U.S. economy added 288,000 jobs in April, well above expectations for jobs growth of 210,000, while the unemployment rate dropped to a five-and-a-half year low of 6.3%.
However, the report also showed that the labor force participation rate, which measures the proportion of people either working or looking for work, fell and wage growth weakened.
Investors were also eying events in Ukraine, after conflict between the government and pro-Russian separatists grew more widespread over the weekend.
The euro was steady against the dollar, with EUR/USD trading at 1.3873, not far from the three-week peak of 1.3888 reached last Thursday, while GBP/USD was unchanged at 1.6873.
Trade was expected to remain subdued on Monday, with markets in the U.K. closed for a public holiday.
Elsewhere, USD/CHF dipped 0.05% to 0.8774.
The Australian dollar was steady in spite of the weak Chinese data and lackluster domestic economic data, with AUD/USD trading at 0.9275. Earlier Monday, official data showed that Australian building permits dropped unexpectedly in March.
NZD/USD was almost unchanged at 0.8661, while USD/CAD slipped 0.09% to 1.0962.
The US Dollar Index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was at 79.55, holding just above the three-week low of 79.48 struck earlier in the session.