Investing.com – The U.S. dollar was up against all of its major counterparts on Monday, as risk appetite soured amid speculation over possible restructuring of Greek debt and as China's manufacturing sector showed signs of slowing in May.
During early U.S. trading hours, the greenback was sharply higher against the euro, with EUR/USD tumbling 0.84% to hit 1.4037.
Worries about Greek debt intensified after Fitch Ratings downgraded the country’s sovereign debt by three notches to B+ from BB+ Friday, while concerns that the crisis might spread to other countries escalated when Standard & Poor's cut its outlook on Italian government debt to negative from stable Saturday.
The greenback was also higher against the pound, with GBP/USD shedding 0.64% to hit 1.6126.
Over the weekend, the Bank of England’s chief economist Spencer Dale said the central bank must start to raise interest rates to tackle inflation or risk hurting the economy.
In addition, the greenback was higher against the yen and the Swiss franc with USD/JPY easing up 0.08% to hit 81.78 and USD/CHF climbing 0.43% to hit 0.8815.
The greenback also advanced against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand counterparts, with USD/CAD gaining 0.48% to hit 0.9786, AUD/USD plummeting 1.32% to hit 1.0518 and NZD/USD tumbling 0.97% to hit 0.7880.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was up 0.67%.
Earlier Monday, a preliminary reading of the HSBC China Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index, a gauge of nationwide manufacturing activity fell to a 10-month low of 51.1 in May, from a final reading of 51.8 in April.
During early U.S. trading hours, the greenback was sharply higher against the euro, with EUR/USD tumbling 0.84% to hit 1.4037.
Worries about Greek debt intensified after Fitch Ratings downgraded the country’s sovereign debt by three notches to B+ from BB+ Friday, while concerns that the crisis might spread to other countries escalated when Standard & Poor's cut its outlook on Italian government debt to negative from stable Saturday.
The greenback was also higher against the pound, with GBP/USD shedding 0.64% to hit 1.6126.
Over the weekend, the Bank of England’s chief economist Spencer Dale said the central bank must start to raise interest rates to tackle inflation or risk hurting the economy.
In addition, the greenback was higher against the yen and the Swiss franc with USD/JPY easing up 0.08% to hit 81.78 and USD/CHF climbing 0.43% to hit 0.8815.
The greenback also advanced against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand counterparts, with USD/CAD gaining 0.48% to hit 0.9786, AUD/USD plummeting 1.32% to hit 1.0518 and NZD/USD tumbling 0.97% to hit 0.7880.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was up 0.67%.
Earlier Monday, a preliminary reading of the HSBC China Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index, a gauge of nationwide manufacturing activity fell to a 10-month low of 51.1 in May, from a final reading of 51.8 in April.