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The Australian dollar tumbled on Monday after a shock contraction in China's exports added to worries about slowing growth in the world's second-largest economy, while sterling extended its losses to fresh five-year lows.
The Australian dollar, considered a liquid proxy of China plays, slid 1.2 percent to $0.7592. That brought the Aussie back within sight of a low of $0.7534 set on April 2, its lowest level in about six years.
The Aussie dollar took a hit after data showed China's export sales slumped 15 percent in March from a year earlier, defying expectations for a 12 percent rise.
The trade data, which also showed that China's import shipments fell at their sharpest rate since the 2009 global financial crisis, deepened concern about the sputtering Chinese economy.
The poor China trade numbers knocked the Australian dollar and emerging Asian currencies lower, although regional equities showed some resilience, said Satoshi Okagawa, senior global markets analyst for Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation in Singapore.
"In a situation like this, China will clearly have to ease monetary policy (further) and that is positive for equities," he added.
Sterling at 5-year low
The British pound hit a fresh five-year low, remaining pressured in the wake of Friday's weaker-than-expected UK industrial output and concerns about political uncertainty after a British election next month.
The pound fell to as low as $1.4567, its weakest level since June 2010.
The euro faltered, pressured by recent falls in euro zone bond yields on the back of the European Central Bank's monetary easing.
The euro fell 0.2 per cent to $1.0587, putting it on track for its sixth straight day of losses.
"We think the euro will fall below parity against the dollar by the end of the year because of the ECB's easing and low returns on capital in the euro zone," said Shin Kadota, chief FX strategist at Barclays in Tokyo.
Investors have been dumping the common currency as the ECB's bond buying since last month has been driving down euro zone bond yields to negative levels in many countries.
Against the yen, the euro eased 0.1 percent to 127.44 yen , not far from a low of 126.915 yen hit last month, its lowest level since June 2013.
Adding to the pressure on the euro, Greece has been bickering with the euro zone over its reform programme ahead of euro zone finance ministers' meeting on April 24 to consider more funding for Athens.
A German newspaper reported on Saturday euro zone officials were shocked at Greece's failure to outline plans for structural reforms at last week's talks in Brussels.
Data from US financial watchdog showed late on Friday speculators' net short position against the euro remained near record high.
Their net euro short position stood at 215,258 contracts last week, not far from a record 226,560 contracts set the week before.
The dollar rose 0.1 per cent to 120.41 yen, within its recent trading band between 118 and 122.
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