NEW YORK: The dollar edged lower against a basket of major currencies on Monday as investors' risk appetite improved amid expectations that Ukraine would receive international aid, calming fears surrounding the heavily-indebted country.
The dollar index was down slightly at 80.218 after posting its first weekly gain in three weeks.
Expectations that Ukraine would receive aid from Western donors helped stoke investors' risk appetite. The greenback also fell sharply against the so-called commodity currencies the Australian, Canadian and New Zealand dollars.
"The Ukraine issue seems to be calming down a little bit," said Thierry Albert Wizman, global interest rates and currencies strategist at Macquarie Limited in New York.
Investors demonstrated their risk appetite by buying US stocks as well. The benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 stock index climbed to an all-time high earlier on Monday, and was last trading up 1.1 percent.
Despite its broader losses, expectations that US economic data would rebound in the weeks ahead should support the dollar against the euro and yen in upcoming sessions, analysts said.
The expectations come after negative surprises on US hiring, retail sales and housing during the past few weeks.
"It's time for some stability in the US data," said Macquarie's Wizman. The latest US data released on Monday showed some economic weakness.
The National Activity index, a gauge of overall economic activity, fell to -0.39 in January from 0.16 in December while financial data firm Markit's preliminary February reading on the services sector fell from 56.7 to 52.7.
The euro, meanwhile, was pressured earlier on Monday against the dollar after a report heightened expectations of more monetary stimulus from the European Central Bank. The euro last traded flat at $1.3736.
ECB Governing Council member Ignazio Visco told news agency Market News International that the ECB is ready to consider cutting its deposit rate into negative territory if needed.
Weak data out of China, meanwhile, limited the yen's gains against the dollar. The rise in home prices in China eased for the first time in 14 months in January, data showed on Monday.
That raising fresh concerns over the health of an economy that has been a key driver of global growth in recent years. The dollar last traded little changed against the yen at 102.55.
Marshall Gittler, head of global FX strategy at IronFX Global, pointed to euro zone inflation data for February on Friday as a focus for investors this week.
Group of 20 finance ministers and central bank chiefs agreed at a weekend meeting in Sydney to set a collective gross domestic product growth target of 2 percent over the next five years.
Global growth and recent turmoil in emerging markets were in focus at the meeting, but the G20 communique did not hint at significant friction between advanced and emerging economies.
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