Investing.com - The dollar held steady against against the other major currencies on Monday, as mounting speculation that the Federal Reserve will hold interest rates at its meeting this week dampened demand for the greenback.
The dollar was lower against the yen, with USD/JPY down 0.35% at 120.19.
Sentiment on the greenback remained vulnerable amid concerns that mixed U.S. economic reports and recent volatility in global financial markets will prompt the U.S. central bank to refrain from hiking interest rates on Thursday.
Data on Friday showed that the preliminary reading of the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index fell to 85.7 from 91.9 in July, compared to forecasts of 91.2.
Separately, the Labor Department reported that the producer price index was flat last month after a 0.2% increase in July.
Fed Chair Janet Yellen has said that an interest rate increase is data dependent but has also indicated that she expects to begin raising rates before the end of the year.
The dollar was fractionally higher against the euro, with EUR/USD down 0.09% at 1.1327.
Earlier Monday, data showed that the euro zone's industrial production rose 0.6% in July, beating expectations for an uptick of 0.3%. Industrial production fell by 0.3% in June, whose figure was revised from a previously anticipated 0.4% slide.
On a yearly basis, the bloc's industrial production increased by 1.9% un July, compared to expectations for a 0.6% rise.
Elsewhere, the dollar was higher against the pound and the Swiss franc, with GBP/USD down 0.20% to 1.5456 and with USD/CHF adding 0.18% to 0.9703.
Data earlier showed that Switzerland's retail sales dropped by an annualized rate of 0.1% in July, compared to expectations for an increase of 1.5%, after a 0.9% slip the previous month.
A separate report showed that Switzerland's producer price index fell 0.7% last month, more than the expected 0.4% downtick, after a 0.3% decline in July.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars were higher, with AUD/USD up 0.37% to 0.7116 and with NZD/USD rising 0.17% to 0.6327.
Meanwhile, USD/CAD slid 0.23% to trade at 1.3230.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was steady at 95.34.