Major currencies barely budged on Monday, as risk averse traders stayed with the dollar after gloomy factory data from the world’s largest economies.
The dollar was steady at $1.3790 versus the euro, inching away from a 2 1/2-year low of $1.40 set early last week.
The buck was stuck at $1.649 versus the sterling and remained virtually unchanged at Y102.20 versus the yen.
Manufacturing activity in China contracted to an eight-month low in February, with the HSBC Markits Purchasing Managers Index coming in at 48.1.
In the U.S., a report from Markit Economics showed a bigger than expected drop in the manufacturing activity in March. The initial or “flash” Markit PMI for the U.S. fell to 55.5 in March from 57.1 in February, as new orders dipped.
And manufacturing activity in Germany expanded at the slowest rate in four months in March, Markit data showed in a separate release.
There has been little movement among major currencies since last Wednesday’s surprisingly hawkish comments from new Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, who hinted at an interest rate hike in about a years time.