Forex - Dollar Remains Moderately Lower Vs. Rivals

Dollar still on the downside but close to 3-week peak

Investing.com - The U.S. dollar remained moderately lower against other major currencies on Monday, as trader took a breather after sending the greenback to a three-week high and as equity markets began to recover from steep losses.

The greenback had broadly strengthened after the U.S. Congress passed a two-year budget agreement early Friday morning, ending a brief government shutdown.

The agreement is set to boost federal spending by almost $300 billion and suspend the debt ceiling for a year.

Government activities were temporarily shut down when a midnight deadline to pass the U.S. budget deal was missed on Thursday due to a prolonged speech by Senator Rand Paul, who said the bill would “loot the Treasury.”

The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.09% at 90.14 by 05:15 a.m. ET (09:15 GMT), after climbing to a three-week high of 90.45 on Friday.

The euro and the pound were higher, with EUR/USD up 0.11% at 1.2265 and with GBP/USD also adding 0.11% to 1.3838.

Sterling recovered from losses posted after after European Union Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier warned Britain on Friday that a post-Brexit transition deal was “not a given”.

The yen and the Swiss franc were also stronger, with USD/JPY down 0.10% at 108.68 and with USD/CHF shedding 0.13% to 0.9381.

In Japan, reports on Monday indicated that Haruhiko Kuroda would be re-appointed as head of the Bank of Japan and likely continue the country's ultra-loose monetary policy.

Elsewhere, the Australian dollar was moderately higher, with AUD/USD up 0.10% at 0.7823, while NZD/USD slipped 0.17% to 0.7245.

Meanwhile, USD/CAD eased 0.09% to trade at 1.2568.