Investing.com - The U.S. dollar remained broadly higher against its major counterparts on Monday, as a weak debt auction in France added to concerns over the debt crisis in the euro zone after Friday’s mass downgrade by Standard & Poor’s.
During U.S. morning trade, the dollar was fractionally higher against the euro, with EUR/USD dipping 0.06% to trade close to a 16-month trough at 1.2670.
France sold EUR8.5 billion of short-term government debt earlier, just shy of the targeted amount of EUR8.7 billion, in an auction which met with weak investor demand and slightly higher yields.
Earlier Monday, ratings agency Moody’s said it was maintaining France’s triple-A rating and stable outlook on its debt for now, but added that it would update markets in the first quarter of 2012.
The announcement came after Standard & Poor’s cut France’s triple-A rating by one notch on Friday and said it would decide shortly whether to downgrade the triple-A rating on the euro zone's bailout fund, the European Financial Stability Facility.
S&P also downgraded eight other euro zone sovereigns, including Italy, Spain, Cyprus and Portugal.
The greenback was almost unchanged against the pound, with GBP/USD dipping 0.06% to hit 1.5308.
In the U.K., Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said earlier 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 posted modest gains against the Swiss franc, with USD/JPY shedding 0.27% to hit 76.75 and USD/CHF adding 0.14% to hit 0.9536.
Earlier Monday, Japan’s Finance Minister Jun Azumi said that his government was concerned about the recent "rapid" fall of the euro against the yen and urged European leaders to step up efforts to establish a firewall to contain the negative effects of the region’s debt crisis.
In Switzerland, official data showed that producer price inflation rose for the first time in eight months in December, ticking up 0.3%, as higher oil prices outweighed the effects of the stronger Swiss franc.
Analysts had expected PPI to fall 0.3% last month.
The greenback was lower against its Canadian cousin, but remained higher against the Australian and New Zealand dollars, with USD/CAD falling 0.33% to hit 1.0197, AUD/USD easing 0.08% to hit 1.0317 and NZD/USD declining 0.06% to hit 0.7941.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was almost unchanged, dipping 0.02% to hit 81.71.
Also Monday, markets in the U.S. were to remain closed for a national holiday.
During U.S. morning trade, the dollar was fractionally higher against the euro, with EUR/USD dipping 0.06% to trade close to a 16-month trough at 1.2670.
France sold EUR8.5 billion of short-term government debt earlier, just shy of the targeted amount of EUR8.7 billion, in an auction which met with weak investor demand and slightly higher yields.
Earlier Monday, ratings agency Moody’s said it was maintaining France’s triple-A rating and stable outlook on its debt for now, but added that it would update markets in the first quarter of 2012.
The announcement came after Standard & Poor’s cut France’s triple-A rating by one notch on Friday and said it would decide shortly whether to downgrade the triple-A rating on the euro zone's bailout fund, the European Financial Stability Facility.
S&P also downgraded eight other euro zone sovereigns, including Italy, Spain, Cyprus and Portugal.
The greenback was almost unchanged against the pound, with GBP/USD dipping 0.06% to hit 1.5308.
In the U.K., Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said earlier 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 posted modest gains against the Swiss franc, with USD/JPY shedding 0.27% to hit 76.75 and USD/CHF adding 0.14% to hit 0.9536.
Earlier Monday, Japan’s Finance Minister Jun Azumi said that his government was concerned about the recent "rapid" fall of the euro against the yen and urged European leaders to step up efforts to establish a firewall to contain the negative effects of the region’s debt crisis.
In Switzerland, official data showed that producer price inflation rose for the first time in eight months in December, ticking up 0.3%, as higher oil prices outweighed the effects of the stronger Swiss franc.
Analysts had expected PPI to fall 0.3% last month.
The greenback was lower against its Canadian cousin, but remained higher against the Australian and New Zealand dollars, with USD/CAD falling 0.33% to hit 1.0197, AUD/USD easing 0.08% to hit 1.0317 and NZD/USD declining 0.06% to hit 0.7941.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was almost unchanged, dipping 0.02% to hit 81.71.
Also Monday, markets in the U.S. were to remain closed for a national holiday.