Investing.com - The euro slid lower on Monday as investors looked ahead to a European Central Bank meeting later in the week amid speculation over whether it will announce plans to enlarge its quantitative easing program.
EUR/USD eased 0.17% to1.1327, the lowest level since October 9.
The single currency has weakened since ECB governing council member Ewald Nowotny said Thursday that additional measures to boost price growth in the euro zone are needed.
Data on Friday confirmed that the rate of inflation in the euro area turned negative in September for the first time since the ECB launched its easing program in March.
The ECB launched its €60 billion-a-month asset purchase program to combat persistently low inflation in the euro area and it is set to run until at least September 2016.
The euro was also lower against the pound and the yen, with EUR/GBP losing 0.37% to trade at 0.7323 and EUR/JPY off 0.27% at 135.21.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, rose 0.18% to 94.93, extending its pullback from last Wednesday’s seven-week lows.
Demand for the dollar continued to be underpinned by the diverging monetary policy outlook between the Federal Reserve and the ECB and the Bank of Japan.
The dollar was little changed against the yen, with USD/JPY at 119.41 after falling to lows of 119.14 overnight.
The yen gained as Asian equities initially opened lower on Monday before regaining ground after data showing that growth in China’s economy slowed less than expected in the third quarter.
China’s economy grew by an annualized 6.9% in the three months to September, slightly better that forecasts for growth of 6.8%, but down from 7% in the second quarter.
The data indicated that the world’s second largest economy is not headed for a hard landing, but still underlined concerns over the economic outlook.