Investing.com - The dollar remained lower against the yen and the euro on Monday, with sharp falls in Asian equities markets overnight bolstering safe haven demand for the yen.
USD/JPY fell to session lows of 104.15, and was last down 0.23% to 104.61.
Japan’s Nikkei dropped 2.35% on Monday after data over the weekend showed that activity in China’s services sector slumped to the weakest level since August 2011 in December, fuelling concerns over the outlook for growth in the world’s second largest economy.
The euro recovered from four week lows against the dollar, with EUR/USD edging up 0.07% to 1.3599.
In the euro zone, data released on Monday showed that the bloc’s services purchasing managers’ index came in at 51.0 in December, unchanged from the preliminary estimate and down slightly from 51.2 in November.
Separate reports showed that activity in Spain’s private sector expanded at the fastest rate in 77 months, but activity in France and Italy contracted last month.
The pound was lower against the dollar, with GBP/USD slipping 0.19% to 1.6388. The pair initially touched session lows of 1.6338 after data showed that the U.K. services PMI declined to a six month low of 58.8 in December from 60.0 in November.
Despite the slowdown the index still remained well above the 50.0 level that indicates expansion. The report said confidence rose and the economy still looks likely to have expanded strongly in the fourth quarter.
The dollar edged higher against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF adding 0.14% to 0.9065.
The greenback was little changed against the Australian, New Zealand and Canadian dollars, with AUD/USD rising 0.26% to 0.894, NZD/USD easing up 0.10% to 0.8280 and USD/CAD adding 0.24% to 1.0662.
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.02% to 81.01.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to publish data on factory orders, while the Institute of Supply Management was to release data on service sector activity.
USD/JPY fell to session lows of 104.15, and was last down 0.23% to 104.61.
Japan’s Nikkei dropped 2.35% on Monday after data over the weekend showed that activity in China’s services sector slumped to the weakest level since August 2011 in December, fuelling concerns over the outlook for growth in the world’s second largest economy.
The euro recovered from four week lows against the dollar, with EUR/USD edging up 0.07% to 1.3599.
In the euro zone, data released on Monday showed that the bloc’s services purchasing managers’ index came in at 51.0 in December, unchanged from the preliminary estimate and down slightly from 51.2 in November.
Separate reports showed that activity in Spain’s private sector expanded at the fastest rate in 77 months, but activity in France and Italy contracted last month.
The pound was lower against the dollar, with GBP/USD slipping 0.19% to 1.6388. The pair initially touched session lows of 1.6338 after data showed that the U.K. services PMI declined to a six month low of 58.8 in December from 60.0 in November.
Despite the slowdown the index still remained well above the 50.0 level that indicates expansion. The report said confidence rose and the economy still looks likely to have expanded strongly in the fourth quarter.
The dollar edged higher against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF adding 0.14% to 0.9065.
The greenback was little changed against the Australian, New Zealand and Canadian dollars, with AUD/USD rising 0.26% to 0.894, NZD/USD easing up 0.10% to 0.8280 and USD/CAD adding 0.24% to 1.0662.
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.02% to 81.01.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to publish data on factory orders, while the Institute of Supply Management was to release data on service sector activity.