The dollar is up against the euro early Monday in New York, supported by comments late Friday by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson in support of a strong dollar. The euro, meanwhile, is on its back foot against the yen as well as the dollar, and has so far received no support from news that European firms ABN Amro Holding NV (ABN) and Barclays PLC (BCS) would merge to create the world's largest institutional asset manager. Treasury's Paulson, in a television interview aired Friday night, said he remains a "big believer in a strong dollar," which led to some dollar-buying during the trading sessions overnight in Asia and Europe. Chris Turner, head of foreign exchange strategy research at ING Capital Markets in London, said, "A reiteration of strong dollar policy from Treasury Secretary Paulson is being used by some as an excuse to reduce dollar short positions," which are bets on dollar weakness. Also weighing on the euro against the yen is the EUR32 billion worth of euro-zone bond redemptions and coupon payments this week, traders said. This "has raised speculation that Japanese investors will repatriate their portion of those payments back to Japan, weighing on (the euro against the yen) in the process," said Robert Lynch, currency strategist at HSBC in New York. But, he said, "We suspect the reality will prove different, with most of those proceeds eventually rolled over into new euro-denominated debt." There are no important U.S. economic data out Monday for currency markets to focus on, and traders said this is likely to keep the dollar hemmed inside rather tight bands against the euro and the yen.