Investing.com - The dollar was lower against the yen in quiet trade on Monday as U.S. markets remained closed for the President's Day holiday, while the euro eked out slender gains as fresh talks on a financing arrangement for Greece began in Brussels.
USD/JPY drifted down 0.26% to 118.43 from 118.73 late Friday.
The dollar remained softer after weak U.S. economic reports late last week prompted investors to reassess expectations for a mid-year rate hike by the Federal Reserve and to trim back long positions in the greenback ahead of the three-day holiday weekend.
In Japan, data on Monday showed that the economy returned to growth in the final quarter of 2014, but growth was still weaker than expected, indicating that the recovery remain fragile.
Japan’s gross domestic product expanded at an annual rate of 2.2% in the three months to December official data showed, falling short of forecasts for 3.7%.
Also Monday EUR/USD edged up 0.16% to 1.1409.
Sentiment on the euro remained fragile as Greece resumed negotiations with its euro zone partners in Brussels on Monday after talks on a new debt deal last week ended without an agreement.
Greece’s current €240 billion bailout is due to expire on February 28 and the new Greek government does not want it extended, fuelling fears over a conflict with its creditors which could trigger the country’s exit from the euro zone.
On Sunday Athens said it was confident of reaching an agreement but reiterated it would not accept harsh austerity measures as part of any new agreement.
The euro dipped against the yen, with EUR/JPY easing 0.11% to 135.12.
In other trade, the U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, eased to 94.15.