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Investors buy safe-haven yen and Swiss franc

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Yen hovers at five-month high

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Euro firm after best week in 16 years

By Chibuike Oguh, Yadarisa Shabong and Ankur Banerjee

NEW YORK, March 10 (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar weakened

against the Japanese yen and the Swiss franc on Monday as

markets grappled with trade tensions over tariffs and a probable

U.S. economic slow-down, while the euro pared gains from last

week.

Markets have been fixated on trade tensions after U.S.

President Donald Trump slapped tariffs on top trading partners

only to delay some of them for a month amid fears of a U.S.

slow-down.

The dollar weakened 0.76% to 146.91 against the Japanese yen

after trading as low as 146.625 on the session, its

lowest since early October last year. Against the Swiss franc

, the dollar weakened 0.06% to 0.879 - hitting its

lowest level since early December.

The euro was 0.03% higher against the dollar at

$1.083350 but hovered near its four-month high as the markets

awaited details on the likely boost to European spending. The

single currency notched its best week in 16 years last week.

European Union finance ministers will meet on Monday to

explore funding options for defence. European countries have

rushed to boost spending and maintain support for Ukraine after

Trump froze U.S. military aid to Kyiv and raised doubts about

Washington's commitment to European allies.

"Much of the time everything is very U.S. centric within FX:

whether the dollar is overall stronger or weaker etc," said

Eugene Epstein, head of trading and structured products, North

America, at Moneycorp in New Jersey.

"But right now, we have a lot of individual stories coming

up like in Europe, the major move in the euro has been driven by

potential increase in government spending and the likelihood

that European Central Bank may be a little more hawkish than

they were planning."

Traders are pricing in 75 basis points of cuts from the Fed

this year, LSEG data showed, with a rate cut fully priced in for

June. Investors will be eyeing U.S. inflation data due on

Wednesday.

On currency futures markets, investors have slashed net long

dollar positions to $15.3 billion from a nine-year high of $35.2

billion in January.

"Reading between the lines, it seems to me that the Trump

administration clearly wants a weaker dollar regardless of what

they formally say or not," Epstein added.

Data on Monday showed regular pay in Japan rose 3.1% in

January following December's revised 2.6% increase and marking

the biggest jump since 1992, though inflation at a two-year high

meant real wages fell.

The Bank of Japan is widely expected to keep interest rates

unchanged at its policy review on March 18-19, though officials

have repeatedly cited the need to gauge the sustainability of

wage growth after the central bank's January rate hike.

The Norwegian crown gained against the dollar and the euro.

It was at its strongest against the dollar since October at

10.7585 crowns to the U.S. currency after surging inflation

sowed doubts about the central bank's plans to start cutting

borrowing costs in March.

China's yuan slipped on Monday after data over the weekend

showed the consumer price index in February fell at the sharpest

pace in 13 months.

The Canadian dollar weakened 0.33% versus the

greenback to C$1.4415 per dollar. Former central banker Mark

Carney claimed a landslide victory on Sunday to lead Canada's

Liberal Party and become its next prime minister, setting him up

for a clash with the Trump administration over trade tariffs.