By Lisa Twaronite, MarketWatch
TOKYO (MarketWatch) — The dollar gained on its European counterpart in Asian trading Monday, as pressure increased on the euro ahead of upcoming European debt auctions.
Portugal, Spain and Italy all have bond auctions scheduled this week.
“Investors charged a hefty premium to hold short-term Portuguese bonds in an auction last week, which doesn’t bode well for the upcoming debt sales,” said Brian Dolan, chief currency strategist at Forex.com in emailed comments.
The euro (EURUSD 1.2878, -0.0002, -0.0155%) slipped to $1.2902, down from $1.2931 in late North American trading Friday. See real-time currency quotes and tools.
“Whether it’s worries about a resolution to funding issues and investor haircuts and/or the growing divergence in growth across the euro zone, the euro continues to look vulnerable,” said Mitul Kotecha, head of global foreign-exchange strategy at Credit Agricole.
“Having easily slipped below its 200-day moving average euro/dollar will eye support around $1.2767,” he said in a note to clients Monday.
European outlook: Retail in focus
Retailers in focus with Tesco, Carrefour, Sainsbury giving updates. On the economic front, ECB and Bank of England interest-rate decisions on Thursday.
The U.S. unit also benefitted from data showing China’s trade surplus was 40% smaller than expected in December, as exports eased while imports expanded faster than expected. Read more on China trade data.
Against the yen, the dollar (USDYEN 83.2000, -0.0200, -0.0240%) changed hands at ¥83.06, compared to ¥83.04 late Friday. Yen trading was thinner than usual Monday as Tokyo markets were closed for a Japanese public holiday.
The British pound (GBPUSD 1.5542, +0.0020, +0.1288%) fell to $1.5538 from $1.5560 Friday.
Last week, the euro fell 3.4%, and the British pound was down 0.4%. The dollar gained 2.4% on the yen.
The dollar index (DXY 81.26, +0.25, +0.31%) , which tracks the U.S. unit against a basket of six currencies, stood at 81.131, up from 81.020 late Friday. For the first week of the year, the dollar index advanced 2.5%, marking its best week since September.
The Australian dollar (AUDUSD 0.9912, -0.0019, -0.1913%) got a lift earlier in the session against its U.S. rival from retail-sales data. The Aussie was buying 99.58 U.S. cents, up less than 0.1%, after earlier rising as high as 99.82 cents.
Australia’s seasonally adjusted retail sales rose 0.3% during November, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said, after a drop of 0.8% in October. See full report on Australian retail sales.
