Asian session review: dollar declines amid hopes of recovery

The US dollar fell against the Australian and New Zealand dollars, as well as against the pound after increasing hopes for economic recovery and reducing demand for safe assets due to an unexpected improvement in the uS labor market indicators.

The yuan was subdued after data indicated a less-than-expected drop in exports from China - the world's second largest economy - in May. Overseas shipments in May fell 3.3% from a year earlier, after a surprising 3.5% gain in April, customs data showed on Sunday. While exports fared slightly better than expected, imports tumbled 16.7% compared with a year earlier, worsening from a 14.2% decline the previous month and marking the sharpest decline since January 2016. It had been expected to fall 9.7% in May. 

The euro also traded without any obvious dynamics. The single currency gained support after the European Central Bank reported last week that it was increasing its bond purchases to help the bloc's weakest economies. The ECB on Thursday decided to increase the volume of the Pandemic Emergency Purchase program (PEPP) by 600 billion euros to 1.350 trillion euros. The Central Bank also kept the base interest rate on loans at zero, and the deposit rate at -0.5%. According to the ECB forecast, the Euro zone economy will shrink by 8.7% this year.