By Chuck Mikolajczak

NEW YORK, July 20 (Reuters) - The euro climbed to its highest in more than four months against the dollar on Monday on hopes for an imminent agreement on a recovery fund for European Union economies hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The fund is expected to total around 750 billion euros ($857.93 billion), of which 390 billion euros could be offered as grants.

EU Council President Charles Michel said he was confident his new proposal to the 27 leaders, which included 390 billion euros of grants and 360 billion euros of loans, a document showed, could be the basis for a deal many say is critical to dispel doubts about the bloc's very future. [nL5N; Editing by Richard Chang2ER21R]

"It is the main story right now and there are signs of progress and that has been very positive for risk appetite and that is why we are seeing the euro kind of remain near its recent highs," said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda in New York.

Positive news about a potential COVID-19 vaccine from a trio of early trials, including an experimental coronavirus vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University also added to overall market optimism and lifted currencies that thrive in times of heightened risk appetite, such as the Australian and New Zealand dollars.

In afternoon trading, the euro was last up 0.12% at $1.1441, after hitting a more than four-month high of $1.14675 EUR=EBS.

Analysts said the smaller the amount of grants from the EU fund, the more the euro would fall.

The U.S. dollar index USD=fell 0.1% to 95.826after sliding to a six-week low hit earlier in the session.

U.S. President Donald Trump signed off on an effort to seek an additional $1 trillion in coronavirus economic relief, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said on Monday, as Republicans laid out their initial proposal for talks with Democrats.

Still, the U.S. Congress is bracing for a battle on the proposed stimulus bill that could boost safe-haven bids for the dollar.

The dollar rose 0.29% versus the Japanese yen to 107.30 JPY=EBS and was up 0.1% against the Swiss franc to 0.9393 franc CHF=EBS.

The Australian and New Zealand dollars, however, gained against the greenback to US$0.7011 AUD=D3 and US$0.6571 NZD=D3.

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Currency bid prices at 3:02PM (1902 GMT)

Description

RIC

Last

U.S. Close Previous Session

Pct Change

YTD Pct Change

High Bid

Low Bid

Euro/Dollar

EUR=

$1.1439

$1.1426

+0.11%

+2.04%

+1.1467

+1.1403

Dollar/Yen

JPY=

107.3000

106.9900

+0.29%

-1.43%

+107.5200

+107.0200

Euro/Yen

EURJPY=

122.75

122.30

+0.37%

+0.66%

+122.9700

+122.1900

Dollar/Swiss

CHF=

0.9392

0.9384

+0.09%

-2.96%

+0.9410

+0.9374

Sterling/Dollar

GBP=

1.2662

1.2565

+0.77%

-4.50%

+1.2665

+1.2519

Dollar/Canadian

CAD=

1.3534

1.3576

-0.31%

+4.22%

+1.3600

+1.3525

Australian/Dollar

AUD=

0.7011

0.6995

+0.23%

-0.14%

+0.7016

+0.6974

Euro/Swiss

EURCHF=

1.0745

1.0723

+0.21%

-0.99%

+1.0776

+1.0721

Euro/Sterling

EURGBP=

0.9033

0.9088

-0.61%

+6.85%

+0.9138

+0.9032

NZ Dollar/Dollar

NZD=

0.6571

0.6556

+0.23%

-2.45%

+0.6573

+0.6540

Dollar/Norway

NOK=

9.2321

9.2928

-0.65%

+5.17%

+9.3228

+9.2311

Euro/Norway

EURNOK=

10.5622

10.6240

-0.58%

+7.36%

+10.6353

+10.5567

Dollar/Sweden

SEK=

8.9747

9.0334

-0.58%

-3.99%

+9.0640

+8.9734

Euro/Sweden

EURSEK=

10.2683

10.3285

-0.58%

-1.92%

+10.3395

+10.2690

Euro jumps to 4-month highhttps://tmsnrt.rs/3fN2M7r

(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Richard Chang)

((charles.mikolajczak@tr.com; @ChuckMik; Reuters Messaging: charles.mikolajczak.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.