Dollar largely holds gains.
The U.S. dollar eased slightly on Monday, but clung
to most of its gains following Friday's robust U.S. jobs report, as
investors await inflation data this week that may signal a turnaround in
the currency's weakness this year.
The dollar index .DXY, which tracks the greenback against six major rival currencies, was down 0.1 percent to 93.449.
The
index rose 0.76 percent on Friday as strong employment data bolstered
the case for further monetary policy tightening by the U.S. Federal
Reserve.
"For the most part, the U.S. dollar is
holding onto Friday's gains," said Kathy Lien, managing director of FX
strategy at BK Asset Management in New York.
"The only thing holding the dollar back from seeing further gains are yields," she said.
U.S.
Treasury yields were flat to slightly lower in choppy trading on Monday
after Friday's stronger-than-expected U.S. non-farm payrolls report,
with no real influences ahead of government bond and corporate supply
this week.
The greenback reacted little to
comments on Monday from St. Louis Fed President James Bullard and
Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari.
The
Fed can leave interest rates where they are for now because inflation is
not likely to rise much even if the U.S. job market continues to
improve, Bullard said.
The greenback gained against the New Zealand dollar, the Canadian dollar and the Australian dollar on Monday. NZD=, CAD=, AUD=.
"We
have a view that the U.S. dollar is due for some mild corrective
strength in the near-term and we see some confirming price action from
some of the key G10 currency pairs," said Erik Nelson, currency
strategist at Wells Fargo Securities in New York.
Despite Friday's boost, the dollar index is down 8.6 percent for the year.
U.S.
producer prices for July due on Thursday and consumer price index
figures on Friday should confirm whether labor market strength is
spilling over into inflation.
"There's certainly some wait-and-see behavior today," Nelson said.
Meanwhile,
the euro shrugged off an unexpected fall in German industrial
production in June and was up 0.19 percent against the dollar to $1.179.