WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The U.S. dollar exhibited weakness against most major currencies on Monday as traders looked for further developments on the trade front.
After some positive news on the U.S.-China trade front during the earlier part of the previous week, there was a setback of sorts on Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump remarked that he had not made a decision on reduction of tariffs on Chinese goods.
Trump said over the weekend that China moved more slowly than he would have liked and that China very much wants to make a deal.
The dollar index declined to a low of 98.13 in early trades but edged up a bit to 98.22 as the session progressed. Still, it was trailing its previous close by about 0.14%.
Against the euro, the dollar shed about 0.12% at 1.1032 a euro.
Germany's wholesale prices declined at the fastest pace in more than three years in October, falling 2.3% year-on-year, after dropping by 1.9% a month earlier.
On a monthly basis, wholesale prices slid 0.1%, but slower than the 0.4% decrease logged in September. This was the fifth consecutive decrease.
Against pound sterling, the dollar weakened to 1.2853, from $1.2775 a unit of sterling on Friday evening.
U.K.'s Gross domestic product grew 0.3% sequentially in the third quarter after contracting 0.2% in the previous three months. However, this was weaker than the consensus of 0.4%. The Bank of England had projected a 0.4% growth for the third quarter.
On a yearly basis, GDP advanced 1%, the slowest pace since the first quarter of 2010.
The Japanese Yen recovered to 109.05 a dollar, after having dropped to 109.29 yen a dollar earlier in the day.
The yen's earlier weakness was due to the Cabinet Office's data showing Japanese core machinery orders declining unexpectedly in September.
Core machinery orders, a leading indicator of private capital investment, declined 2.9% month-on-month, following a 2.4% drop in August. This was the third consecutive fall in orders. Orders were forecast to expand 0.9%.
The dollar was up against the Aussie with the Aussie-Dollar pair at 0.6851.
Against the loonie, the dollar was down slightly at 1.3226. Against Swiss franc, the dollar weakened to 0.9934, giving up about 0.4% from previous close.
Traders were reluctant to make significant moves as they looked ahead to President Donald Trump's speech at the Economic Club of New York on Tuesday as well as Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's testimony before the Congressional Joint Economic Committee on Wednesday.
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