The US dollar rose against the euro on Monday on renewed worries over a Greek exit from the eurozone, while the New Zealand dollar hit more than seven-week lows against the greenback on speculation the country's central bank could cut rates. Greece, which must repay a 750 million euro loan to the International Monetary Fund on Tuesday, faces the risk of default and being forced out of the eurozone. Eurozone finance ministers meet on Monday to discuss a cash-for-reforms deal for Athens.
"The market's focus was distracted away from Greece last week with the UK elections and the (US) payroll data," said Richard Scalone, co-head of foreign exchange at TJM Brokerage in Chicago. "The second that was out of the way, (investors) jumped on it." The New Zealand dollar set a 7-1/2-week low of $0.7357 against the US dollar in US trading. The euro was last down 0.49 percent against the dollar at $1.11520 after hitting a more than two-month peak of $1.1392 last week. The dollar was up 0.3 percent against the Swiss franc at 0.93370 franc and was mostly flat against the yen at 119.865 yen. The dollar index was up 0.24 percent at 95.012.