Singapore, February 16 (QNA) - The US dollar held broadly steady on Monday, while the Japanese yen weakened after surrendering part of last week's strong gains, as softer US inflation data reinforced expectations that the US Federal Reserve could move toward interest rate cuts later this year.
The dollar index, which measures the performance of the US currency against six major peers, stood at 96.973 after declining 0.8% last week.
The yen fell 0.3% to 153.15 per dollar, after rising nearly 3% last week -- its strongest weekly gain in about 15 months.
The euro traded little changed at $1.1863, while the pound sterling edged down slightly to $1.36395.
The Swiss franc also eased marginally to 0.7686 per dollar after gaining more than 1% last week, as investors grew increasingly cautious about potential intervention by the Swiss National Bank to curb the currency's strength as a traditional safe-haven.
Meanwhile, the Australian dollar rose 0.2% to $0.70865, remaining below its three-year high reached last week, while the New Zealand dollar slipped 0.1% to $0.6033 ahead of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand's policy meeting on Wednesday. The central bank is widely expected to keep interest rates unchanged. (QNA)