Investing.com - The dollar remained broadly lower against the other major currencies on Monday, after the release of weak U.S. housing sector data and as sentiment on the greenback remained fragile ahead of the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting this week.
USD/JPY dropped 0.67% to 110.96.
The U.S. Commerce Department said new home sales declined by 1.5% to 511,000 units last month. New home sales in February were revised to show a 0.4% decline to 519,000 units, from the prior reading of a 2.0% gain.
Analysts had expected a 1.0% rise from the initial February number to a total of 520,000 units.
Traders were looking ahead to the Fed’s upcoming policy meeting, due to conclude on Wednesday for further indications on the pace and timing of future rate hikes.
The yen dropped by 2.1% against the dollar on Friday after Bloomberg reported that the Bank of Japan could expand the negative interest rate policy it put in place in January at the conclusion of its two day policy meeting on Thursday.
Some investors believe the bank will not roll out further easing measures as it continues to assess the impact of the negative interest rate policy it adopted in January.
Most analysts expect the BoJ to cut its forecasts for growth and inflation as the strong yen and a severe earthquake this month which has disrupted supply chains cloud the economic outlook.
EUR/USD gained 0.36% to trade at 1.1263.
The dollar was lower against the pound and the Swiss franc, with GBP/USD up 0.59% at 1.4489 and with USD/CHF sliding 0.42% to 0.9747.
The pound strengthened after U.S. President Barack Obama warned over the weekend that Britain would be at the “back of the queue” to arrange a trade deal with the U.S. in the event of a British exit from the European Union or Brexit.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars were higher, with AUD/USD up 0.16% at 0.7723 and with NZD/USD adding 0.10% to 0.6860.
Markets in Australia remained closed for the Anzac day holiday.
Elsewhere, USD/CAD held steady at 1.2671.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.40% at 94.73, off Friday’s one-week high of 95.18.