By: Barbara Zigah
Investor appetite for risk was on the rise in Asian trading today following the welcome news that Greece will be able to raise money to settle a portion of its debt burden. That positive news help increase earlier gains for the single currency Euro against the U.S. Dollar.
As reported at 3:56 pm (JST) in Tokyo, the Euro traded at $1.3528, an increase of .3% from New York’s late trading yesterday when it was traded higher by .5%; only last week, the Euro struck $1.33, a 10-month trough, against the greenback.
One currency strategist in Germany suggests, however, that the Euro’s gains may be only short term, especially given analysts’ predictions that the ECB will hold interest rates down as a result of slow growth in Europe and continuing debt problems among several of the Euro-zone nations.
Other higher yielding currencies, including the Australian Dollar, also moved higher in Asia. Versus the Greenback, the Aussie traded at $0.9207, an increase of .4%, spurred on by speculation that the RBA will raise a key interest rate to 4.25% next week; analysts affirm that it would be quite unusual if interest rates were not hiked, given the improvement in the Australian economy.