On Monday, the US dollar generally was in a positive trend against the basket of the major currencies, as the optimistic US reports, published on Friday, strengthened hopes for US economic recovery.
The dollar strengthened after data on Friday which has shown that the activity in the US manufacturing sector remained stable in April, after five consecutive months of slowing down.
Another report showed that consumer disposition in the US in April rose to its highest level since January. The reports emphasized the optimism that the US economy started to recover after the recent disappointing performance.
The USD Index, which tracks the US currency against the set of six major rivals, rose 0.34%, getting to 95.71.
The EUR / USD fell by 0.58% to 1.1134 after the data which showed that the growth in the manufacturing sector of the euro zone narrowed slightly in April, but noted that the economic recovery is still maintained. The research group Markit said that the final PMI was 52.0 instead of preliminary value of 51.9, but below the March figures - 10 months highest value, which was 52.2. German manufacturing PMI rose to 52.1 last month, from 51.9 in March, while manufacturing activity in France shows contraction for 12 months in a row.
The pound has dropped. The pair GBP / USD lost 0.12%, getting to 1.5118.
Dollar is steady against the yen, the USD / JPY pair showing 120.17, and rose against the Swiss franc, with USD / CHF being 0.49%, getting to 0.9370.
The Australian dollar fell. The pair AUD / USD lost 0.11% to 0.7834, while the pair NZD / USD continues to be traded at 0.7537. Earlier, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that the number of issued building permits rose by 2.8% in March, exceeding expectations of a decline of 2.0%. The data also showed that the volume of announcements of employment in Australia increased by 2.3% last month after declining in March at 1.3%.
Export-related currencies suffered after the published data on private sector showed that manufacturing activity in China declined in April at the fastest pace in a year due to the lower level of new orders. The data caused some fears about a slowdown in the second largest economy in the world.
The manufacturing PMI from HSBC fell to 48.9 in April, the lowest level since April 2014, from 49.6 in March and below the expected 49.4.
Meanwhile, the pair USD / CAD fell 0.23%, to 1.2133.
Later on in the US, there will be data on industrial new orders.