The high-yielding Australian dollar rose on Monday helped by a rise in equities, while the dollar hit a three-month low against a basket of currencies, hurt by persistent worries that the US economy's recovery is losing steam. The dollar has been hobbled by concerns over the US economy after a series of recent economic data undershot market expectations, and its slide has been exacerbated by some bearish signals on technical charts.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback's value against a basket of currencies, hit a three-month low of 81.400, dipping below support near 81.44, which is roughly a 50 percent retracement of its November to June rally. Sterling briefly touched a five-month high of $1.5735 in early Asian trade on Monday.
The euro edged up 0.3 percent from late US trading on Friday to $1.3085, edging back towards a three-month high of $1.3107 marked last week. One trader cited talk of relatively large stop-loss bids in the euro in the $1.3120 to $1.3150 region. The dollar also fell against the high-yielding Australian and New Zealand dollars, with the Australian dollar hitting a three-month peak at $0.9108. After trimming some gains, the Australian dollar was 0.6 percent higher compared with late US trading on Friday at $0.9095. The yen slipped broadly and pulled back a bit from an eight-month high versus the dollar hit late last week.