Investing.com - The U.S. dollar was mixed against the other major currencies in holiday-thinned trade on Monday, as concerns over the outcome of the day's final budget talks dominated market sentiment.
During European morning trade, the dollar was higher against the euro, with EUR/USD slipping 0.16% to 1.3195.
Market players remained focused on developments surrounding the fiscal cliff in the U.S., approximately USD600 billion in automatic tax hikes and spending cuts due to come into effect on January 1 unless Democrats and Republicans agree how to cut the deficit.
U.S. President Barack Obama met with congressional leaders at the White House Friday afternoon, but both sides failed to reach an agreement ahead of the looming year-end deadline.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the Senate would resume sitting on Monday to continue discussions, but there were still significant differences between the two sides.
The greenback was steady against the pound, with GBP/USD inching up 0.04% to 1.6168.
Elsewhere, the greenback was higher against the yen and the Swiss franc, with USD/JPY rising 0.20% to trade at 86.05, and USD/CHF adding 0.11% to 0.9147.
The greenback was lower against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand counterparts, with USD/CAD falling 0.23% to 0.9948, AUD/USD edging up 0.08% to 1.0381 and NZD/USD advancing 0.32% to 0.8224.
The export-linked currencies found support after a report from HSBC released earlier confirmed that manufacturing activity in China expanded at the fastest pace since May 2011 in December. The final version of China's HSBC Purchasing Managers Index rose to 51.5 in December from a final reading of 50.5 in November.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was up 0.06% to 79.84.
Trading volumes were expected to remain thin as many investors already closed books to lock in profit before the end of the year, reducing liquidity in the market and increasing the volatility.
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
