U.S. Dollar Advances As Inflation, Powell's Testimony In Focus

The U.S. dollar appreciated against its major counterparts in the Asian session on Monday, as investors await U.S. inflation data and Fed Chair Jerome Powell's semi-annual Congressional testimony for more clues on the timeline for tapering asset purchases by the U.S. Federal Reserve.

Powell's testimony on Wednesday will help gauge whether the Fed will move too soon with tapering its QE program.

Besides CPI data, U.S. retail sales, PPI, jobless claims and industrial production are due this week.

Central bank meetings in New Zealand, Canada and Japan are also in focus.

Asian stocks got a boost from China's RRR cut on Friday. The move will inject 1 trillion yuan into the banking system.

Finance ministers from the Group of 20 countries warned over the weekend that the global economic growth is at risk from the spike of new coronavirus variants and the low vaccine availability in developing countries.

The greenback rose to 1.1856 against the euro, 1.3881 against the pound and 0.9156 against the franc, after falling to 1.1880, 2-week low of 1.3910 and a 4-day low of 0.9135, respectively in early deals. The greenback is likely to find resistance around 1.16 against the euro, 1.37 against the pound and 0.94 against the franc.

The greenback approached a 4-day high of 110.28 against the yen, after a drop to 110.01 at 9:15 pm ET. On the upside, 112.00 is possibly seen as its next resistance level.

The greenback edged up to 0.7463 against the aussie, 1.2481 against the loonie and 0.6969 against the kiwi, reversing from its prior lows of 0.7493 and 1.2443 and a 4-day low of 0.7009, respectively. If the greenback rises further, 0.72, 1.27 and 0.68 are likely seen as its next resistance levels against the aussie, the loonie and the kiwi, respectively.

At 9:30 am ET, Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams will deliver a speech about inflation at a webinar co-hosted by Bank of Israel and Centre for Economic Policy Research.