The dollar’s index against a basket of six major peers edged up 0.1 percent to 90.401, staying within sight of a two-week high of 90.477 set on Friday.
Rising U.S. bond yields helped underpin the greenback, with the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield touching a peak of 2.979 percent in Asian trade, the highest since January 2014.
Against the yen, the dollar hit a two-month high of 107.89 yen, and last changed hands at 107.80 yen, up 0.2 percent on the day.
The euro eased 0.1 percent to $1.2274, having set a two-week low of $1.2250 on Friday.
· U.S. administration officials are preparing for an unprecedented summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, but basic details, including where and when it will happen and negotiating tactics, are still being worked out.
The summit would be the first-ever meeting between a serving U.S. president and a North Korean leader, and will follow one between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Kim on Friday. Trump has said his meeting with Kim could take place in late May or June but has warned it could be called off if he did not think it could deliver the desired results.
· As the gap between short- and long-term borrowing costs hovers near its lowest in more than 10 years, speculation has risen over whether the so-called yield curve is signaling that a recession could be around the corner.
Not to worry, two influential Federal Reserve policymakers said on Friday. Another, whose views are typically outside the mainstream at the Fed, disagreed.
Growth prospects look pretty strong, which is why the Fed is raising short-term interest rates, the two sanguine policymakers explained. Those rate hikes, they said, are in and of themselves acting to flatten the yield curve.
· A U.S. push to change the Iran nuclear dealwas sending a "very dangerous message" that countries should never negotiate with Washington, Iran's foreign minister warned as U.S. and North Korean leaders prepare to meet for denuclearization talks.
Speaking to reporters in New York on Saturday, Mohammad Javad Zarif also said that for French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel "to try to appease the president (Donald Trump) would be an exercise in futility."
"The United States has not only failed to implement its side (of the deal), but is even asking for more," said Zarif, who is in New York to attend a U.N. General Assembly meeting.
Macron and Merkel are both due to meet with Trump in Washington this week.
· Japanese manufacturing activity expanded at a faster pace in April than the previous month as output and domestic demand picked up, in a sign the economy is recovering from an expected rough patch in the first quarter.
However, a private survey also showed export orders fell for the first time in more than a year and a half as a gradual appreciation in the yen starts to erode Japan’s export competitiveness.
The flash Markit/Nikkei Japan Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) rose to a seasonally adjusted 53.3 in April from a final 53.1 in the previous month.
The index for total new orders rose to a preliminary 53.5 from a final 53.1 in the previous month, but export orders shrank marginally, the contraction in external demand since August 2016.
· China opposes all forms of protectionism and will firmly safeguard the world’s multilateral trading system, its commerce minister wrote on Monday in the ruling Communist Party’s official newspaper.
China will quicken the pace of reform and implement its pledge to opening up banks, securities and insurance, besides easing foreign ownership limits on autos, ships and aircraft, the minister, Zhong Shan, wrote in the People’s Daily.
The comments reinforce President Xi Jinping’s pledge this month to open up the economy to foreign investors and competition, amid growing trade friction with the United States, with the two countries threatening tariffs on more than $100 billion of goods.
China will also step up protection of intellectual property rights and backs a free trade zone in its southern province of Hainan, Zhong added.
· Oil prices dipped on Monday as a rising U.S. rig count implied further increases in output, marking one of the few factors tamping back crude in an otherwise bullish environment.
Brent crude futures were at $73.91 per barrel at 0630 GMT, down 15 cents, or 0.2 percent from their last close.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down 18 cents, or 0.3 percent, at $68.22 a barrel.
Reference: Reuters, CNBC