Euro Dips as Greece’s Future Debated

Earlier during the Asian trading session, the Euro fell to a 2-month trough against the U.S. Dollar as doubts about the disbursement of Greece’s next bailout loan escalated following the failure of the E.U. finance ministers and IMF to agree on a plan which would help the financially troubled nation over the long term.

According to one economist in Tokyo, markets players had already priced in the possibility that the disbursement wouldn’t be released this week, but future uncertainty is being blamed for this sell-off of the single currency. The Greek government will be attempting to raise money through the sale of Treasury bills later today, as bills worth €5 billion will come due on Friday but it is clear that the success of the auction is in doubt.

As reported at 11:32 a.m. (JST) in Tokyo, the EUR/USD pair slipped to a 2-month low at $1.2676 before recovering slightly and last trading at $1.2684, still a loss of 0.2% from overnight trading in New York. The pair has been on a steady decline since a peak of $1.3140 when the European Central Bank announced a new bond purchase scheme in September that would directly help Spain by the purchase of Spanish debt.