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Investing.com – The dollar came under pressure Monday, shrugging off upbeat U.S. housing data as a stronger euro weighed on sentiment.

The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, fell by 0.42% to 94.07.

The housing sector, meanwhile, showed a little resilience as the National Association of Realtors’ pending home sales rose 0.9% to 106.9 in June, ending two consecutive months of declines.

"The trend in (pending home) sales is flat, and the mortgage applications numbers point to a modest decline over the next few months, as higher mortgage rates and tighter lending standards bite into demand," Pantheon said in a note to clients Monday.

"The June pending sales index suggests that July existing home sales will rise slightly, to about 5.45 million."

The better-than-expected housing data arrived as investors eagerly await a slew of updates on monetary policy from a trio of central banks this week, including the Federal Reserve on Wednesday.

The Federal Open Market Committee is expected to vote to leave interest rates unchanged on Wednesday, but market participants are expected to closely parse the accompanying statement for any tweaks in language on monetary policy.

"Wednesday's FOMC meeting is going to be a non-event as the Committee is not expected to raise rates or alter the balance sheet normalization schedule next week, though there's a risk of a change in language contained within the statement," BMO said last week.

Elsewhere, a stronger euro and pound held back performance as the latter pair rose on above-forecast UK mortgage data ahead of the widely expected Bank of England interest rate hike due later this week.

GBP/USD rose 0.24% to $1.3138, while EUR/USD rose 0.49% to $1.1715 as Eurozone consumer confidence met expectations.

USD/JPY fell 0.05% to Y110.97 as the Bank of Japan conducted its third operation in a week Monday overnight, buying $14.4 billion in the 5-to 10-year sector, sending yields on Japan 10-Year bond lower, weakening the yen.

USD/CAD fell 0.31% to C$1.3019.

Source: Investing

Investing.com - The U.S. dollar was lower on Monday, while the euro and sterling were higher as investors wait for a number of central bank meetings this week.

The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a basket of six major currencies, was down 0.43% to 94.06 as of 11:34 AM ET (15:34 GMT). Meanwhile, the pound inched higher, with GBP/USD rising 0.31% to 1.3146.

Investors are waiting for a flurry of central bank policy decisions this week that could determine direction of currencies. The Federal Reserve makes a policy decision Wednesday afternoon, but with no rate hike expected. Investors expect the Fed to raise rates in September, with the chance of an increase at 87.8%.

The U.S. economy accelerated as expected in the second quarter, underlining the case for the Federal Reserve to gradually increase interest rates.

Gross domestic product registered a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 4.1% growth in the second quarter, its fastest rate of growth since the third quarter of 2014.

Other central banks are also meeting this week, with the Bank of Japan ending its two-day meeting on Tuesday. The Bank of England is expected to raise interest rates on Thursday, despite Brexit uncertainty.

The dollar was lower against the safe-haven yen, with USD/JPY decreasing 0.05% to 110.97. In times of uncertainty, investors tend to invest in the Japanese yen, which is considered a safe asset during periods of risk aversion.

The euro was higher after the dollar fell, despite the European Central Bank keeping rates unchanged last week and reiterating its plan to slowly end its accommodative monetary policy. EUR/USD rose 0.48% to 1.1713

The Australian dollar was higher, with AUD/USD rising 0.11% at 0.7408, while NZD/USD inched up 0.54% to 0.6830. The loonie was higher against the greenback, with USD/CAD down 0.38% to 1.3010.

Source: Investing

The Australian dollar had a slow start to the week, finishing mixed against the major crosses as traders eyed of bigger events ahead.

Here’s the scoreboard as at 7am in Sydney.

AUD/USD 0.7407 , 0.0007 , 0.09%

AUD/JPY 82.26 , 0.23 , 0.28%

AUD/CNH 5.0568 , 0.0162 , 0.32%

AUD/EUR 0.6327 , -0.0009 , -0.14%

AUD/GBP 0.5639 , -0.0003 , -0.05%

AUD/NZD 1.0851 , -0.0017 , -0.16%

AUD/CAD 0.9654 , -0.0017 , -0.18%

As the scoreboard suggests, the moves on Monday were contained and largely irreverent, largely reflecting tweaks to market positioning ahead of a swathe of major economic data and central bank releases.

The key theme of the session was modest strength in the euro, helped by firm inflation reports from Germany and Spain and continued dip-buying after the common currency slumped last week. The strength in the euro weighed on the greenback, helping the AUD/USD grind higher from lows struck earlier in the day.

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