Dollar mixed after G20 meeting, US housing data

The euro was trading at $1.3969 around 2100 GMT, up from $1.3949 on Friday in New York.

The dollar fell to 80.82 yen from 81.34 on Friday.

But the US unit at one point slipped to 80.41 yen, its lowest reading since April 1995, increasing speculation the Bank of Japan will intervene again to stem the rise of the Japanese currency.

Investors sold the dollar after the Group of 20 powerful economies agreed to avoid tit-for-tat currency devaluations but did not set specific targets, analysts said.

After all-night talks among their senior officials, G20 finance ministers forged an agreement in South Korea to "refrain from competitive devaluation of currencies" and aim for "more market-determined exchange rate systems."

Jittery financial markets had been looking for a strong stand from the G20 developed and emerging-market countries against beggar-thy-neighbor currency policies ahead of the November 11-12 G20 summit in Seoul.

"While market participants had been more cautious in the run-up to the G20 meeting, they can sell the dollar in a more relaxed way following the (G20) commununique," said analysts at Commerzbank.

"After all it did not provide any clear definitions as regards currency policy."

With the G20 meeting a wash on the outlook for currency markets, Sumit Roy at Forex Capital Markets said that traders could now focus on "the next big event risk," the Federal Reserve's policy-setting meeting on November 2-3.

While the meeting is widely expected to include another round of quantitative easing, "the question now becomes, what action will the central bank take and how big will that action be?"

"With some market commentators bandying about the possibility of $100 billion  in Treasury purchases per month, it is not surprising to see the US dollar sharply lower as markets wait for more clarity," Roy said.

The dollar's weakness was eased Monday by better-than-expected data on the ailing US housing market.

US existing-home sales soared 10 percent in September, the strongest gain in nearly 28 years and one that pointed to a nascent rebound, the National Association of Realtors said.

In late New York trade, the dollar fetched 0.9706 Swiss francs, down from 0.9774 on Friday.

The pound rose to $1.5734  from 1.5683.