In Asian Trading Euro Touches on 2-week Low versus Greenback

By: Barbara Zigah

Continuing worries about the rescue efforts for debt-burdened Greece helped to push the common currency Euro to a new 2-week low versus the U.S. Dollar in Asian trading today. Market players are eagerly awaiting firm information from the European Central Bank which meets later today and which is expected to discuss new collateral rules that would effectively ease lending terms over the next year to help Euro-zone countries. One worry among analysts is that the Greek sovereign debt will be removed from the Euro-zone’s collateral pool. As reported at 1:32 p.m. in Tokyo, versus the greenback, the Euro slipped to $1.3326 on the EBS trading platform, a .1% decline; at one point in the session, the Euro had dipped to $1.3314, a 2-week low.

The Australian Dollar held steady against the U.S. Dollar, trading at $0.9276. Against the Japanese Yen, the Aussie remained flat, trading at 86.42 Yen, off of yesterday’s 18-month peak when it struck 87.51 Yen.  The Aussie had firmed somewhat following the release of Australian labor data which indicated that nearly 20,000 jobs were added to the payrolls last month. While generally in line with analysts’ predictions, the labor numbers aren’t strong enough to reliably predict a May rate hike.