After exhibiting weakness against some riskier currencies in the Asian session following Democrat Joe Biden's projected win in the U.S. presidential poll, the U.S. dollar climbed higher and stayed firm on Monday.
Positive news about the effectiveness of Pfizer Inc's experimental vaccine in preventing Covid-19 contributed as well to greenback's early weakness.
U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer said its experimental vaccine was more than 90 percent successful in preventing Covid-19 in the first analysis of the large study.
Pfizer said it would seek U.S. emergency use authorization later this month.
Still, reports showing continued spikes in coronavirus cases in several states across the U.S. and in many European countries raised concerns about economic recovery and pulled the dollar out of the red.
The dollar index, which dropped to 92.13, gradually recovered and despite struggling a bit in the European session, rose to 92.96 by noon, and was last seen hovering around 92.80, up more than 0.6% from Friday's close.
Against the Euro, the dollar firmed up to $1.1812, gaining about 0.55%. Eurozone investor confidence weakened for the second straight month in November, reflecting the negative impact of the coronavirus on the economic recovery process, survey data from Sentix showed on Monday.
The investor confidence index fell to -10.0 in November from -8.3 in October. The score was expected to drop to -15.0.
The Pound Sterling was up slightly, fetching $1.3157 a sterling, compared to $1.3152 on Friday.
The Japanese Yen was weaker by almost 2% at 105.38 a dollar, falling from 103.36.
The AUD-USD pair was trading at 0.7278, giving a near 0.3% gain for the Australian currency.
The Swiss franc weakened to $0.9143, losing about 1.45%. Switzerland's jobless rate declined marginally in October, data from the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, or SECO, showed. The jobless rate fell to a seasonally adjusted 3.3% in October from 3.4% in September. Economists had expected a rate of 3.4%.
On an unadjusted basis, the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.2% in October. Economists had forecast the rate of 3.3%.
The Loonie was firmer at C$1.3011 (up 0.3%) a dollar thanks to a sharp surge in crude oil prices.
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