The euro gave up gains to weaken against the dollar on Monday, as yield differentials between U.S. Treasuries and German Bunds widened to multi-year highs, highlighting the monetary policy divergence between the United States and the euro zone.
Amid lower-than-usual volumes due to a holiday in some parts of Europe, the dollar held gains made after upbeat U.S. jobs data on Friday. The reassuring data bolstered risk appetite and underpinned higher-yielding currencies like the and New Zealand dollars.
The euro fell roughly 0.15 percent near $1.36, having risen earlier in the European session. It was still some distance from a four-month low just above $1.35 hit on Thursday after the European Central Bank cut its main rates to record lows, imposed a negative rate on excess cash deposited with it and announced measures to pump money into the sluggish euro zone economy, aiming to ward off the risk of deflation.
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The ECB measures have given fresh impetus to a euro zone bond rally that has driven borrowing costs in countries that were at the forefront of the debt crisis to record lows.
German Bunds also outperformed U.S. and UK counterparts, driving the 10-year yield gaps to 2005 and 2010 levels respectively. The yield premium remained close to its highest in seven years, underpinning the U.S. dollar.
Traders said large option expiries between $1.35 and $1.37, however, would keep the euro in that range in the near term. The dollar index was up 0.1 percent at 80.50, while the dollar was flat against the yen above 102 yen.
The greenback made gains on Friday after data showed U.S. non-farm payrolls increased by 217,000 last month. The report offered confirmation that the world's largest economy has snapped back from a winter slump.
Besides the robust U.S. data, analysts cited a number of other factors likely to keep the yen under pressure.
Nippon Individual Savings Account (NISA) is a new tax-break facility for Japanese retail investors introduced in January and aimed at driving massive savings into stocks and mutual funds, some of which are expected to be invested in foreign assets. Japan's public pension fund, the world's largest, has been working to diversify its domestic bond-centric portfolio and any changes are likely to have a significant effect on flows.
—By Reuters
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