The Euro held close to the 1-month peak struck on Wednesday and risk sentiment got a boost from a drop in Spain’s bond yields, better than expected housing data from the U.S. and a possible year-end rebound in the Chinese economy. Spain has another bond auction later today and analysts are hopeful yesterday’s good results will be repeated; in the U.S., the numbers of new homes surged last month, the quickest pace in more than 48 months and a good sign that the fledgling recovery in the housing market is gaining some traction.
As reported at 2:00 p.m. (JST) in Tokyo, the EUR/USD pair was trading at $1.3107, sliding back from the 1-month high of $1.3140 which was a gain of 0.4%. The Euro also moved higher against the Japanese Yen, trading at 103.850 Yen, close to the 4-month high of 103.858 Yen which was struck last month.
The U.S. Dollar also edged up against the Japanese Yen, hitting a 1-month high in the Asian trading session; the Yen remains under pressure from Bank of Japan intervention speculation. The USD/JPY pair was trading at 79.11 Yen, a 1-month peak, and analysts point out that a rise in yields on U.S. Treasuries helped make the greenback the more attractive of the two.
Risk Sentiment Supports Euro
Barbara Zigah