The US dollar continued to hover at low levels although it was seen to find some support to rise in the Asian session.
Concerns about a recession seem to be weighing on the market again after seeing the dismal release of US retail sales data in the previous session.
US retail sales contracted more severely than expected at -1.1% in December from the -0.8% forecast, and -1.0% recorded in the previous month.
This was the fastest decline in a year and fueled fears that the world's largest economy was heading for recession.
These concerns helped the greenback to slightly rise as a safe-haven in the New York and Asian sessions, with the yen leading the gains in the market.
The yen initially weakened after the Bank of Japan's (BOJ) decision, but later erased losses by rising again against most major currencies including the US dollar.
In the meantime, the USD also received support from the statements of several Federal Reserve (Fed) policymakers who offered hawkish statements at the New York session.
James Bullard said interest rates must continue to rise to ensure inflationary pressure is reduced, while Esther George said the central bank must restore price stability by returning it to the 2% inflation target.
Even so, the currency king is still hovering around the lowest level with the dollar index trading at 102.47 against six other major currencies.
The euro and pound weakened slightly, but were still trading around their strongest monthly levels against the greenback.
On the other hand, the Aussie and New Zealand dollars also declined due to gloomy market sentiment, but still maintained gains at the highest level.
