Investing.com - The euro gave up early gains against the dollar on Monday as concerns over the Greek debt crisis escalated after the country’s new prime minister reiterated that Athens would not stick to the terms of its old bailout agreement.
EUR/USD was last at 1.1314, off session highs of 1.1359.
Investors remained wary after Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said Sunday that he would deliver on pre-election pledges to roll back austerity measures and reject an international bailout extension.
Instead, he said he will seek a new “bridge agreement” to cover Greece’s funding needs until June.
Greece’s main stock exchange fell sharply on Monday, while bond yields surged higher amid worries that that time is running out for Athens to reach an agreement on a new financing program with creditors.
The euro had pushed higher against the dollar earlier in the day as the greenback eased after Friday’s rally on the back of a stronger-then-expected U.S. jobs report, which reinforced expectations for a mid-year rate hike by the Federal Reserve.
The single currency received an additional boost after data showing German exports rose to a record high last year.
Germany exported a record €1.13 trillion worth of goods and services in 2014, an increase of 3.7% from a year earlier. Imports rose more slowly, increasing 2% to €915.6 billion, leading to a record high trade surplus.
The upbeat German trade data was offset by disappointing trade data from China.
Official figures on Sunday showed that Chinese exports fell 3.3% in January on a year-over-year basis, while imports dropped 19.9%. The data indicated that both global and domestic demand is weakening.
In other trade, the euro was lower against the yen, with EUR/JPY down 0.48% to 134.15, but was slightly higher against the pound, with EUR/GBP at 0.7434.
Also Monday, a report showed that investor confidence in the euro zone improved to the highest level in nine months in February as the announcement of the European Central Bank’s bond purchasing program, along with the weaker euro and lower oil prices boosted the outlook for growth.
Research group Sentix said its index of investor confidence improved to 12.4 this month, from a reading of 0.9 in January. Analysts had expected the index to tick up to 3.0.