The dollar is back in demand Monday as hopes of an early end to the shutdown which has paralysed the U.S. economy were dashed over the weekend, prompting some traders to head back to the greenback safe haven.

At 3:55 AM ET (0815 GMT), the U.S. Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six other currencies, stood at 98.965, up 0.4%. EUR/USD traded at 1.1078, down 0.6%, USD/JPY flat at 107.86.

On Sunday, President Donald Trump extended restrictive social distancing guidelines to the end of April, bowing to public-health experts who presented him with even more dire projections for the expanding coronavirus pandemic.

It was a stark shift in tone by the president, who only days ago discussed reopening the country in a few weeks.

Additionally, GBP/USD traded at 1.2350, down 0.9%. Sterling has made something of a comeback in the last week or so, helped by the injection of vast amounts of dollars by the Federal Reserve into the system to stop a funding crunch.

Source : Investing.com