WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The U.S. dollar plunged against most major currencies on Monday amid a big slump in crude oil prices and continued worries about the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on the global economy.
Falling treasury yields also weighed on dollar.
The recent rate cut by the Federal Reserve and comments by the central bank that it would act as appropriate to help support growth continue to weigh on the currency.
Crude oil prices posted their biggest single-session drop in almost 30 years after Saudi Arabia slashed prices and said it would aim to boost output.
Concerns about the outlook for energy demand due to the coronavirus also contributed to oil's sharp plunge.
Saudi Arabia slashed its official prices by the most in at least 20 years over the weekend and signaled to buyers it would ramp up output. Meanwhile, Russia said its companies were free to pump as much as they could.
Saudi Arabia's move comes after OPEC and its allies failed to reach an agreement on additional production cuts last week. OPEC and allies had met in Vienna to consider a proposal to deepen production cuts, aiming to support oil prices.
The dollar index, which dropped to 94.65 early on in the session, was last seen at 94.90, down by about 1.1% from previous close.
Against the Euro, the dollar weakened to $1.1487 before recovering slightly to $1.1464, still down by a sharp margin of about 1.6%.
Eurozone investor sentiment declined the most on record in March, reflecting fears of a global recession amid the spread of coronavirus, or COVID19, results of a closely watched survey revealed.
The investor confidence index dropped to -17.1 in March from 5.2 in February, the behavioral research institute Sentix said. The decline of 22.3 points was the sharpest within a month since the survey began. The reading was the lowest since April 2013.
The Pound Sterling strengthened to $1.3113, gaining about 0.5%.
The Japanese Yen, due to its safe-haven appeal, strengthened to 102.28 a dollar, a long way up from previous close of 105.32 yen.
The dollar was up 0.7% against the Aussie with the AUD-USD pair quoting at 0.6590.
The dollar was down almost 2% at against the loonie at 1.3680 and down 1.6% at 0.9230 against Swiss franc.
Switzerland's unemployment rate remained stable in February, data from the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, or SECO, showed.
The jobless rate held steady at a seasonally adjusted 2.3% in February, in line with expectations. On an unadjusted basis, the unemployment rate fell to 2.5% from 2.6% in the preceding month.
In January, the number of unemployed persons decreased by 3,196 from the previous month to 117,822.
The youth unemployment rate, which applies to the 15 to 24 age group, decreased to 2.3% from 2.4% in the previous month.
Meanwhile, in virus-related news, several countries are reportedly adding travel restrictions and in Italy more than 16 million people are literally locked in as 366 people are dead on Coronavirus infection. The Middle East countries are implementing restrictions such as shutting down of schools and shopping malls.
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