Investing.com - The U.S. dollar pared back losses against a basket of other currencies on Monday but still remained lower after manufacturing data came in slightly lower than expected.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, fell 0.06% to 89.70 as of 11:18 AM ET (15:18 GMT), not far from its earlier low of 89.49.
Manufacturing growth fell in March, according the Institute of Supply Management’s purchasing managers’ index.
The closely watched index decreased to 59.3, compared to forecasts of 60.1 and below the prior month’s reading of 60.8.
The dollar was also held back by trade war concerns between the U.S. and China.
On Sunday China increased tariffs by 25% on 128 different U.S. products including pork, wine, nuts and seamless steel pipes, in response to trade tariffs from the U.S. The news has increased trade tensions between the two biggest economies in the world and risen investor fear of a trade war.
The White House is expected to list Chinese imports that will be tariffed, which is expected to include about $50 billion to $60 billion worth of technology products.
Trading volumes were thin, as European markets were still closed for the Easter holiday. U.S. markets were set to open after being closed on Friday.
The dollar fell to a low against the safe haven yen, with USD/JPY losing 0.18% to trade at 106.08.
The euro was down, with EUR/USD down 0.10% to 1.2307. Meanwhile GBP/USD jumped 0.24% to 1.4049. Elsewhere, the Australian dollar decreased, with AUD/USD falling 0.22% at 0.7662, while NZD/USD inched down 0.22% to 0.7224.