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2018.04.0914:56:00UTC+00Dollar Weakens Despite Easing Trade War Concerns

The dollar is losing ground against all of its major rivals Monday afternoon. The lack of U.S. economic data is keeping some investors on the sidelines at the start of the new trading week.

Investors also remain focused on the potential trade war between the U.S. and China. Concerns over a trade war eased somewhat after the U.S. appeared to soften its stance on the subject over the weekend, suggesting that a trade war could be avoided through negotiations. However, China still says negotiations are out of the question until the U.S. backs down further.

The dollar has fallen to nearly a 1-week low of $1.2325 against the Euro Monday afternoon, from an early high of $1.2260.

Eurozone investor confidence declined notably in April on fears of trade war, survey data from think tank Sentix showed Monday. The investor sentiment index fell to 19.6 in April from 24.0 in March. The score was forecast to remain unchanged at 24.0.

Germany's exports declined the most in more than two years in February amid fears of trade wars, data showed Monday.

Exports fell unexpectedly by 3.2 percent month-on-month in February, figures from Destatis revealed.

This was the second consecutive decrease and the biggest fall since August 2015, when exports slid 6.1 percent. Shipments were forecast to rise 0.2 percent, reversing January's 0.4 percent decrease.

At the same time, imports declined 1.3 percent on month after falling 0.2 percent in January. Economists had forecast imports to climb 0.5 percent.

As the decline in exports exceeded the fall in imports, the trade surplus decreased to a seasonally adjusted EUR 19.2 billion from EUR 21.5 billion a month ago.

The buck has dropped to over a 1-week low of $1.4135 against the pound sterling this afternoon, from a high of $1.4076 this morning.

UK house prices grew at a faster than expected pace in March, data from the Lloyds bank subsidiary Halifax and IHS Markit showed Monday.

House prices increased 1.5 percent month-on-month in March. The monthly increase was forecast to slow to 0.1 percent from 0.5 percent in February. A similar faster growth was last seen in August 2017.

In three months to March, house prices increased 2.7 percent from the previous year, following 1.8 percent increase seen in three months to February. Prices were forecast to rise at a slower pace of 2 percent.

The greenback reached an early high of Y107.202 against the Japanese Yen Monday, but has since retreated to around Y106.790.

Japan posted a current account surplus of 2.076 trillion yen in February, the Ministry of Finance said on Monday, down 28.7 percent on year. The headline figure was shy of expectations for a surplus of 2.196 trillion yen following the 607.4 billion yen surplus in January.

Japan's consumer confidence held steady at the end of the first quarter, survey data from Cabinet Office showed Monday. The seasonally adjusted consumer confidence index came in at 44.3 in March, unchanged from February.

Meanwhile, economists had expected the index to rise to 44.5.

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