Investing.com - The dollar gave back gains and traded mixed to lower against most major currencies on Monday after investors applauded robust housing data and later jumped to the sidelines to prep for Friday's April jobs report.
In U.S. trading on Monday, EUR/USD was up 0.14% at 1.3853.
The dollar firmed earlier after the National Association of Realtors reported that pending home sales jumped 3.4% in March, far surpassing expectations for a 1% gain.
Pending home sales for February were revised to a 0.5% drop from a previously reported decline of 0.8%.
On a year-over-year basis, pending home sales were still down 7.9% in March, though the data firmed the dollar by reminding investors that the Federal Reserve will continue tapering monthly asset purchases as the year unfolds.
Profit taking nudged the greenback down later in the session, as investors jumped to the sidelines to prepare for Friday's April jobs report.
The euro, meanwhile, saw support from expectations that euro zone inflation data due out on Wednesday will reveal an uptick in consumer prices.
An increase in the euro zone’s consumer price index would ease pressure on the European Central Bank to implement additional monetary policy measures.
In March, the euro zone's annual inflation rate slowed to 0.5%, the lowest since November 2009. The ECB targets an inflation rate of close to but just under 2%.The consensus forecast is for the inflation rate to rise to 0.8%.
The dollar was up against the yen, with USD/JPY up 0.34% at 102.54 and down against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF down 0.17% at 0.8801.
The greenback was down against the pound, with GBP/USD up 0.07% at 1.6811.
Sterling rose on expectations for merger-and-acquisition inflows after U.S. drugs giant Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) confirmed Monday that it wanted to take over Britain's Astrazeneca Plc (AZN.LONDON) in a deal worth almost £60 billion.
The dollar was mixed against its cousins in Canada, Australia and New Zealand, with USD/CAD down 0.13% at 1.1024, AUD/USD down 0.12% at 0.9258 and NZD/USD down 0.48% at 0.8539.
The US dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.08% at 79.77.
On Tuesday, the U.S. is to a report compiled by the Conference Board on consumer confidence.