Investing.com - The U.S. dollar was higher against almost all of its major counterparts on Monday, as safe haven demand found support amid worries that Friday’s downgrade of euro zone sovereigns by Standard & Poor’s and deadlocked talks on Greece would exacerbate the debt crisis in the region.
During European morning trade, the dollar was up against the euro, with EUR/USD slipping 0.11% to trade close to a 16-month trough at 1.2663.
S&P cut the ratings of France and eight other euro zone nations on Friday, following warnings in December and said it would decide shortly whether to cut the triple-A rating on the euro zone's bailout fund, the European Financial Stability Facility.
Meanwhile, talks aimed at negotiating a restructuring of Greece's debts broke down on Friday, amid disagreements over how much money investors will lose by swapping their bonds, raising fears over a possible default. The talks were set to resume later in the week.
The greenback was fractionally higher against the pound, with GBP/USD dipping 0.03% to hit 1.5314.
Reacting to the downgrades earlier, U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said that the euro zone needs to show that it can stand behind the shared currency and resolve Greece’s debt crisis.
Elsewhere, the greenback was down against the yen but higher against the Swiss franc, with USD/JPY shedding 0.22% to hit 76.79 and USD/CHF adding 0.19% to hit 0.9540.
Japan’s Finance Minister Jun Azumi said earlier that the government was concerned about the recent "rapid" fall of the euro, after the single currency hit the lowest level against the yen since December 2000.
In Switzerland, official data showed that producer price inflation rose unexpectedly in December, ticking up 0.3% after a 0.8% decline the previous month.
Analysts had expected PPI to fall 0.3% last month.
The greenback ticked lower against its counterpart in Canada, but gained on the Australian and New Zealand dollars, with USD/CAD losing 0.27% to hit 1.0203, AUD/USD sliding 0.15% to hit 1.0310 and NZD/USD easing down 0.12% to hit 0.7936.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was almost unchanged, dipping 0.01% to hit 81.73.
Also Monday, markets in the U.S. were to remain closed for a national holiday.
During European morning trade, the dollar was up against the euro, with EUR/USD slipping 0.11% to trade close to a 16-month trough at 1.2663.
S&P cut the ratings of France and eight other euro zone nations on Friday, following warnings in December and said it would decide shortly whether to cut the triple-A rating on the euro zone's bailout fund, the European Financial Stability Facility.
Meanwhile, talks aimed at negotiating a restructuring of Greece's debts broke down on Friday, amid disagreements over how much money investors will lose by swapping their bonds, raising fears over a possible default. The talks were set to resume later in the week.
The greenback was fractionally higher against the pound, with GBP/USD dipping 0.03% to hit 1.5314.
Reacting to the downgrades earlier, U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said that the euro zone needs to show that it can stand behind the shared currency and resolve Greece’s debt crisis.
Elsewhere, the greenback was down against the yen but higher against the Swiss franc, with USD/JPY shedding 0.22% to hit 76.79 and USD/CHF adding 0.19% to hit 0.9540.
Japan’s Finance Minister Jun Azumi said earlier that the government was concerned about the recent "rapid" fall of the euro, after the single currency hit the lowest level against the yen since December 2000.
In Switzerland, official data showed that producer price inflation rose unexpectedly in December, ticking up 0.3% after a 0.8% decline the previous month.
Analysts had expected PPI to fall 0.3% last month.
The greenback ticked lower against its counterpart in Canada, but gained on the Australian and New Zealand dollars, with USD/CAD losing 0.27% to hit 1.0203, AUD/USD sliding 0.15% to hit 1.0310 and NZD/USD easing down 0.12% to hit 0.7936.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was almost unchanged, dipping 0.01% to hit 81.73.
Also Monday, markets in the U.S. were to remain closed for a national holiday.