NEW YORK: The dollar climbed to a four-month peak on Monday in choppy trading, with the euro languishing below $1.18 and commodity currencies falling, as the currency drew some safe-haven bids on concerns about the potential fallout of a hedge fund’s default on margin calls.

The dollar index, a measure of the greenback’s value against six other major currencies, hit as high as 92.964, its strongest level since November. It was last up 0.1% at 92.904.

The single European currency slipped 0.2% to $1.1769, after earlier dropping to $1.1760, its lowest since November. On a monthly basis, it was down 2.5%, its biggest fall since July 2019.

The dollar was last up 0.1% against the Japanese currency at 109.81 yen.

Virus-driven caution also helped the dollar higher against the Australian and Canadian dollars. The Aussie was last down 0.1% at US$0.7634 on Monday and while the greenback gained 0.2% versus the Canadian dollar to C$1.2594.