The European currency advanced against the dollar on Monday, regaining some of the ground lost on Friday, in the first part of a calm European session.

Around 9:05 a.m. GMT (11:05 a.m. in Paris), the euro gained 0.23% against the greenback, to 1.1824 dollars.

On Friday, the single currency had dropped 0.60% against the American currency, undermined by worse than expected indicators for the Old Continent where the threat of a second wave of Covid-19 still hangs over economic recovery.

But the better form of the euro on Monday reflects the current situation of the dollar: the greenback fell sharply against the major currencies during the month of July, losing in the eyes of some forex traders its status as a safe haven currency, before stabilizing in the August.

"The story remains the same" and "the trend is only dictated by the level of appetite for the US dollar", underlines Ipek Ozkardeskaya, analyst at Swissquote Bank.

Investors have little information to sink their teeth into on Monday, ahead of a speech by US Federal Reserve (Fed) Chairman Jerome Powell on Thursday at the annual Jackson Hole symposium, a virtual-only meeting this time, due to the coronavirus.

Currency traders also remained attentive to the evolution of the health situation linked to the coronavirus epidemic, which is deteriorating in particular in Italy and France.

The pandemic caused by the new coronavirus has killed more than 800,000 people worldwide since the end of December, according to a report established by AFP on Sunday from official sources.