During the Asian trading session the common currency held just above a 2-month low against the U.S. Dollar following the news that the Greek Parliament had gotten approval for the 2013 budget; analysts say that any gains for the common currency will be limited however by this week’s meeting of the E.U. finance ministers.
As reported at 11:15 a.m. (JST) in Tokyo, the EUR/USD pair was trading at $1.2723, a slight gain of around 0.1% from late trading in New York on Friday when the pair hit the September 7th low of $1.2690; earlier in the session the pair had struck a peak of $1.2737.
Today’s E.U. meeting begins with the discussion to be focused on the release of Greece’s next bailout tranche; the weekend’s approval of the 2013 budget will at least have alleviated some investors’ concerns and prevented what might otherwise have been a big selloff of the common currency. But despite the vote, Greece is not assured the payment’s release as the German Finance Minister cautioned that the Greek government would probably not be able to present its full report to the Troika in a timely manner. The deadline for the next tranche payment is November 16th when the government will have to roll over €5 billion in maturing treasury bills.
Tranche Payment at Risk Despite Greeks
Barbara Zigah