By Gina Lee

Investing.com – The dollar was up on Monday morning in Asia, but losses were minimal as safe-haven currencies held gains and riskier ones struggled to hold onto them. Along with soaring inflation, investors remain concerned.

By 12:04 ET (5:00 GMT), the that monitors the greenback against other currencies increased 0.01% to 96.082 (5:04 AM GMT).

It climbed 0.6% to 115.48.

With Australian job data due Thursday, and possible surprises numbers driving volatility to near one year highs for the Australian dollar, the pair fell 0.2% to 0.7118. This was a drop of 0.38% from 0.6622.

While the pair increased by 0.08%, it fell to 6.3597. The pair dropped by 0.13% at 1.3542.

The euro fell to $1.1360 after falling from $1.1495 the week before due to growing fears of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Riskier Australian and New Zealand Dollars also held steady below previous weeks’ levels. The Russian ruble saw its sharpest decline in almost two years, falling on Friday.

US sounded the alarm Sunday about Russia creating a pretext for an invasion of its neighbor. Russia denies this. Later in the day Olaf Scholz (German Chancellor) will travel to Ukraine. He’ll then visit Moscow and warn of possible sanctions should an attack occur.

The tension is the latest shock to a market already reeling from the previous week’s high U.S. inflation data. Although fears about an unexpected rate increase have subsided somewhat, investors still expect that the dollar will remain supported.

Analysts at Westpac stated in a note that “with Fed hike expectations rising again and geopolitical tensions escalating in Ukraine, the dollar index should again be on the front foot.”

The dollar stabilized in the earlier session. On Friday, the euro dropped 1.2% against the yen. Oil importers currencies are viewed as the most vulnerable to any potential conflict in Ukraine.

Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank, will speak before the European Parliament. James Bullard, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, will then address the media later that day.

Investors were confident that the Bank of England would raise its rates in March 2022, pricing around a 40% chance of an increase of 50 basis points.

The Fed will publish the Wednesday across the Atlantic. The previous week’s talk about an inter-meeting interest rate hike died down somewhat after the Fed released an unchanged bond-buying schedule for the coming month. Only after the central bank has stopped buying, will it increase interest rates.