Investing.com - The U.S. dollar remained broadly higher against its major counterparts on Monday, as ongoing fears over the debt crisis in the euro zone weighed on risk appetite after Friday’s mass euro zone sovereign downgrade by Standard & Poor’s and after talks on restructuring Greece’s debt reached a deadlock.
During European afternoon trade, the dollar was fractionally higher against the euro, with EUR/USD dipping 0.05% to trade close to a 16-month trough at 1.2670.
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.
France was preparing to auction as much as EUR8.7 billion in short-term government debt later in the day.
Meanwhile, the threat of a default by Greece resurfaced after talks aimed at negotiating a restructuring of the country’s debts broke down on Friday, amid disagreements over a bond swap with private creditors. The talks were set to resume later in the week.
The greenback was almost unchanged against the pound, with GBP/USD dipping 0.02% to hit 1.5312.
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 0.25% to hit 0.9545.
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 0.28% to hit 1.0202, AUD/USD sliding 0.12% to hit 1.0312 and NZD/USD shedding 0.22% to hit 0.7928.
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 afternoon trade, the dollar was fractionally higher against the euro, with EUR/USD dipping 0.05% to trade close to a 16-month trough at 1.2670.
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.
France was preparing to auction as much as EUR8.7 billion in short-term government debt later in the day.
Meanwhile, the threat of a default by Greece resurfaced after talks aimed at negotiating a restructuring of the country’s debts broke down on Friday, amid disagreements over a bond swap with private creditors. The talks were set to resume later in the week.
The greenback was almost unchanged against the pound, with GBP/USD dipping 0.02% to hit 1.5312.
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 0.25% to hit 0.9545.
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 0.28% to hit 1.0202, AUD/USD sliding 0.12% to hit 1.0312 and NZD/USD shedding 0.22% to hit 0.7928.
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.