Euro Rises on Greek Bailout Deal

By: Barbara Zigah

Following the news that the Eurozone’s policymakers have finally agreed on the deal which would give Greece the €130 billion needed to avoid a messy default, the Euro rose against the U.S. Dollar and traded at a high of $1.3293. As reported at 2:27 p.m. (JST) in Tokyo, the EUR/USD is trading higher at $1.3266, a gain of 0.2% but analysts expect that the gains will be short-lived as the underlying problems of the Eurozone, in general, and Greece, in particular, still prevail which include a weakened growth outlook. Resistance for the EUR/USD is at $1.3309, the 100-day moving average.

Also in the Eurozone, it was reported that the European Central Bank halted its infamous and controversial asset purchase program, whereby it had been buying sovereign debt on fiscally troubled nations which helped to suppress yields. This would be the first time since August of last year and follows through on the “threat” issued by both Mario Draghi and his predecessor Jean-Claude Trichet that the program would not be endless.


The Australian Dollar, a commodity-linked currency, also surged higher against the U.S. Dollar on the Euro-deal news, and was trading at one point to a peak of $1.0817 before retreating to $1.0756, still a gain of 0.4% on the day.