Investing.com - The dollar fell almost 1% against the yen on Monday as fears grow that President Donald Trump's "America First" policy could lead to wide trade war with key Asian economies and that along with plan to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement and abandon the Trans Pacific Partnership--global economic freedom may wane.
USD/JPY changed hands at 113.63, down 0.87%, while AUD/SUD tarded at 0.7571, up 0.15%. GBP/USD gained as well, up 0.37% to 1.2420.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, fell 0.41% to 100.36 late Friday. The index had climbed around 3.5% since Trump’s election win in November, but has fallen 1.49% so far this month amid worries over Trump's protectionist stance and following recent remarks in which he said the dollar was too strong.
Later on Monday, ECB President Mario Draghi is to speak at an event in Italy.
In the week ahead, Trump's policy plans in his first days in office are likely to dominate headlines along with fourth quarter growth from the U.S. on Friday and from the U.K. a day earlier. Tuesday’s data on euro area private sector activity will also be closely watched.
Last week, the U.S. dollar slid against a basket of the other major currencies on Friday as markets reacted to Donald Trump’s inaugural speech after he was sworn in as president of the U.S.
On Friday, Trump said his administration would put "America first" and also promised new roads, bridges and highways.
But market sentiment was hit by the negative tone of the speech, which underlined uncertainty over how Trump will govern.
The Mexican peso has been hard hit by fears over potential changes to U.S. trade policy under the Trump administration. But USD/MXN was last quoted down 0.63% to 21.4519 in quotes on Monday.