The dollar held at its highest levels in six months in Monday’s trading, whilst the euro huddled near seven month lows on fiscal concerns. Higher yielding currencies remained under pressure by the closing of leveraged trades. Sterling remained under pressure ahead of the Bank of England’s MPC meeting this Thursday despite better than expected manufacturing PMI.

Stronger than expected US gross domestic product data out late last week reinforced the view that the world’s largest economy was recovering from the recession faster than the Euro Zone and Japan. The US economy grew at a 5.7 percent annual rate in the fourth quarter, its fastest pace in more than six years, sending the greenback higher especially against the struggling single currency.

The single currency remains under pressure on the well publicised debt concerns of member states. There was a brief respite after better than expected Manufacturing PMI in the morning however the positive numbers were soon overshadowed by the uncertainty surrounding the sovereign debt issues of Euro Zone members such as Greece and Portugal.

Markets are now braced for a huge week data-wise with a number of major central bank meetings across the world and a raft of economic reports out of the United States, culminating in non-farm payrolls data on Friday.