U.S. Dollar Falls As Asian Shares Traded Higher

(RTTNews) - The U.S. dollar weakened against other major currencies in the Asian session on Monday amid increasing risk-on mood by the investors, with markets in Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand shut due to the Easter holiday, following progress in tariff discussions between the Trump administration and other major economies.

U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to fire Fed Chair Powell over rate cuts and released an eight-point list targeting what he calls "non-tariff cheating" by foreign nations -- a warning he said could impact diplomatic and trade ties with the United States.

White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said on Friday that the president and his team are examining the legal feasibility of removing Powell and that had acted politically to benefit Democrats.

Just a day before, Trump blasted Powell on for not lowering interest rates, calling him "always TOO LATE AND WRONG."

Meanwhile, U.S.-China relations continued to sour, with China's Commerce Ministry saying it would retaliate against nations cooperating with the USA's tariff wars.

In the Asian trading now, the U.S. dollar fell to nearly a 3-1/2-year low of 1.1534 against the euro and nearly a 7-month low of 1.3398 against the pound, from Friday's closing quotes of 1.1391 and 1.3294, respectively. If the greenback extends its downtrend, it is likely to find support around 1.17 against the euro and 1.35 against the pound.

Against the yen and the Swiss franc, the greenback dropped to more than a 7-month low of 140.62 and more than a 10-year low of 0.8070 from last week's closing quotes of 142.17 and 0.8162, respectively. The greenback may test support near 139.00 against the yen and 0.79 against the franc.

Against the Australia, the New Zealand and the Canadian dollars, the greenback slipped to nearly a 4-1/2-month low of 0.6431, a 5-1/2-month low of 0.6014 and more than a 6-month low of 1.3792 from last week's closing quotes of 0.6376, 0.5937 and 1.3848, respectively. The greenback may test support near 0.66 against the aussie, 0.61 against the kiwi and 1.36 against the loonie.

Looking ahead, U.S. Consumer Board's leading index for March is slated for release in the New York session.