(Alliance News) - The greenback was stronger against major counterparts on Monday, as investors react to deepening fears over the global fallout from US tariffs.

The FTSE 100 dropped by about 5% to a one-year low in early trading as the sharp sell-off kicked in. Meanwhile in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng closed down 14%, its heftiest drop since 1997 during the Asian financial crisis.

"The global equity sell-off continues, driven by escalating trade tensions, particularly the 34% tariffs imposed by China on US imports," Convera said.

"Commodity-sensitive currencies like the AUD and NZD have been hit hard...Overnight, safe havens like CHF and JPY gained +0.84% and 0.33%, respectively, on Monday (at the time of this writing), but JPY's rally may be capped by [Bank of Japan] doveishness."

US President Donald Trump called China "the biggest abuser of them all" on tariffs, saying in a post on his Truth Social network it had not acknowledged "my warning for abusing countries not to retaliate".

The euro eased to USD1.0948 early on Monday afternoon from USD1.1078 at around the same time on Friday.

The pound eased against the euro to EUR1.1703 from EUR1.1777.

Against the dollar, the pound fell to USD1.2810 from USD1.3034.

The dollar rose against its Canadian counterpart, to CAD1.4249 from CAD1.4209.

Versus the Australian dollar, it climbed to AUD1.6538 from AUD1.6353.

Convera noted that "commodity-sensitive currencies, such as the AUD and NZD, have declined due to concerns over their economies' reliance on China".

Versus the Swiss franc, the greenback firmed to CHF0.8544 from CHF0.8507.

Against the yen, the dollar increased to JPY146.25 from JPY145.15.

By Emma Curzon, Alliance News reporter

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