Dollar Gaining Ground At The Start Of The New Trading Week

(RTTNews) - The dollar is rising against all of its major competitors at the beginning of the new trading week. There has been little economic data to drive the direction of trading today and there will be little U.S. economic data released this week. Existing home sales are scheduled to be released on Wednesday, while new home sales are slated for Thursday. Weekly jobless claims are also due Thursday and durable goods orders will be released at the end of the week.

Concerns over the situation in Greece are the driving force behind today's currency moves. The debt-ridden country is struggling with a cash crisis in the days leading up to a meeting of euro-area finance ministers on April 24.

Greek banks may soon run out of collateral to access European Central Bank refinancing unless Athens reaches a deal over the release of another 7.2 billion euros in bailout funds from the European Union, France's central bank chief said.

The Greek government ordered a mandatory transfer of cash reserves from state agencies and local government entities to its central bank.

The dollar has climbed to around $1.0730 against the Euro Monday, from an early low of $1.0818.

Eurozone construction output declined for the first time in three months in February, Eurostat reported Monday. Construction output fell 1.8 percent in February from January, when it grew 1.6 percent. This was the first fall in three months and the biggest drop since September.

Germany's producer prices declined at a faster-than-expected pace in March, figures from Destatis showed Monday. The producer price index fell 1.7 percent year-over-year in March, surpassing economists' expectations for a 1.6 percent decrease.

The U.K. economy will weather the election storm in relatively good shape, helped by 'noflation' and a strengthening Eurozone, and any interest rate increases will be off the agenda until spring 2016, the Ernst & Young's ITEM Club said in a report.

The economy was forecast to grow 2.8 percent in 2015, but slightly weaker than the 2.9 percent expansion projected three months ago, the think tank said in its latest Spring Forecast published Monday.

For 2016, the ITEM Club projected 3 percent growth. The economy was forecast to expand 2.7 percent each in 2017 and 2018. The buck has risen to $1.4895 against the pound sterling this afternoon, from around $1.4980 this morning.

The average asking price for a house in the United Kingdom was up 1.6 percent on month in April, property tracking website Rightmove said on Monday, coming in at a record 286,133 pounds. That follows the 1.0 percent increase in March.

Japan's government maintained its overall economic assessment in April and continues to see a moderate recovery on the back of the improvement in the corporate sector, the monthly economic report from the Cabinet Office revealed Monday.

Although consumer price inflation eased to around zero mainly reflecting the significant decline in crude prices, the underlying trend of inflation has improved markedly, Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said at a luncheon speech at the Economic Club of Minnesota on Sunday.

The monetary easing implemented by the BoJ is having the intended effects and the economy is making steady progress on its way to conquering deflation.

The greenback has risen to a 2-day high of Y119.400 against the Japanese Yen, from an early low of Y118.526.

An index measuring tertiary industry activity in Japan was up a seasonally adjusted 0.3 percent on month in February, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said on Monday, standing at 100.5. That topped forecasts for a decline of 0.7 percent following the 1.4 percent gain in January.

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