The dollar index, which tracks the U.S. unit against a basket of six major currencies, fell 0.1 percent to 94.187 .DXY, within sight of last week's low of 94.015, which was its lowest since October.
The euro EUR= was steady at $1.1403, not far from last week's high of $1.1454, its highest since October.
The dollar edged up slightly to 108.13 yen JPY=, holding above last week's low of 107.67, which was its weakest since October 2014.
The greenback's recent slide against its Japanese counterpart prompted a chorus of warnings from officials in Tokyo and put investors on alert for direct yen-selling intervention, though many believed Japan would stay its invention hand.
Uncertainty over the outlook for the U.S. economy is higher than usual, which calls for a “cautious and gradual approach” to interest-rate increases, Federal Reserve Bank of New York President William C. Dudley said.
Mr. Dudley, in remarks prepared for a speech Friday in Bridgeport, Connecticut, echoed recent comments from Fed Chair Janet Yellen, who said March 29 that the presence of downside risks to the outlook meant it was appropriate to “proceed cautiously in adjusting policy.”
“The factors behind the financial turbulence we saw earlier this year do not yet appear to be resolved fully,” Mr. Dudley said. “Although the downside risks have diminished since earlier in the year, I still judge the balance of risks to my inflation and growth outlooks to be tilted to the downside.”
Negative interest rates have helped boost demand and supported stable prices by supplementing conventional monetary stimulus, senior experts at the International Monetary Fund said in a paper.
The Bank of Japan became the latest central bank to start charging commercial banks for the privilege of parking their excess funds earlier this year. The bank joined counterparts in the euro zone and Switzerland in slashing interest rates below zero in an effort to shake up its sclerotic economy and push up feeble inflation.
In the paper, the IMF's Jose Vinals, Simon Gray and Kelly Eckhold noted that wholesale interest rates have declined while credit growth in the euro zone has also picked up since the move by the European Central Bank to adopt negative rates, although they cautioned that it might be too early to draw definitive conclusions.
"Lower risk-free wholesale rates have tended to encourage investors to switch from low yield government securities to riskier assets such as equities, corporate bonds, or property," the IMF experts said.
Crude oil prices rose after soaring more than 6 percent on Friday to post gains of about 8 percent for the week, as drawdowns in U.S. crude stockpiles fed hopes that the end was in sight for the global supply glut that has plagued the industry for nearly two years. [O/R]
U.S. crude futures CLc1 added 1.1 percent to $40.16 a barrel after jumping 6.6 percent on Friday, while Brent crude LCOc1 was up about 0.8 percent at $42.29, after settling up 6.4 percent.
Reference: Pension and Investment, CNBC, Reuters
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