Dollar on back foot in Asia

The dollar remained stuck near a four-month low against a basket of major currencies on Monday, while the euro was supported by expectations that the European Central Bank to raise interest rates as early as April. The dollar struggled to gain ground after US jobs data last week came in a touch better than expected, but disappointed investors who had been bracing for an even stronger report.
Strong job growth is seen necessary for the Federal Reserve to hold off from conducting further rounds of quantitative easing. The Fed's second round of quantitative easing consisting of $600 billion in bond purchases is due to be completed in June.
The closely watched non-farm payrolls report on Friday showed an increase of 192,000 jobs as private employers hired 222,000 workers, the most since April. That took the jobless rate down to a nearly two-year low of 8.9 percent. The dollar index held steady at 76.432 , hovering near a four-month low of 76.275 hit on Friday. The euro dipped 0.1 percent to $1.3973 . The euro touched a four-month high above $1.4000 after Friday's jobs data. The euro gained a boost last week after ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet stunned markets by saying the ECB may hike interest rates in April, a far more hawkish tone than what the market had been prepared for.
With the euro having breached resistance at its early February peak of $1.3862 during last week's rally, one possible upside target is now $1.4283, a peak on charts hit in early November on trading platform EBS. The euro dipped 0.1 percent against the yen to 114.97 yen, having retreated from Friday's peak of 116.00 yen, the euro's highest against the yen since May 2010. A trader for a major Japanese bank in Tokyo said Japanese exporters sold the euro on Friday as it rallied against the yen, and added that they might still try to sell the euro at levels above 115 yen.
The dollar also eased 0.1 percent against the yen to 82.28 yen , having pulled back from Friday's intraday peak of 83.09 yen. Support is seen around 81.60 yen, a level that held after several tests in late February and early March. The New Zealand dollar dipped 0.2 percent to $0.7368, hovering near a five-month low of $0.7339 touched last week, with investors bracing for an interest rate cut by New Zealand's central bank at a policy meeting later this week.