Euro modestly higher vs. rivals, but gains seen limited
Investing.com
Published Mar 21, 2012 07:38AM ET
During European late morning trade, the euro was slightly higher against the U.S. dollar, with EUR/USD easing up 0.11% to hit 1.3238.
The euro found support earlier after the March 20 deadline for Greece to avoid a default passed.
On Tuesday, Greece repaid EUR14.5 billion in maturing debt, just one day after receiving the first tranche of aid, under the terms of its second bailout. While last week’s debt restructuring deal had minimized the risk of a default, relief at the safe passage of the bond redemption buoyed sentiment on the single currency.
The shared currency was also higher against the pound, with EUR/GBP rising 0.13% to hit 0.8346.
The pound came under pressure after official data showed that U.K. public sector borrowing rose to a record GBP12.9 billion in February, against expectations for a deficit of GBP5.2 billion.
Elsewhere, the minutes of the Bank of England’s March policy meeting showed that officials were concerned over higher oil prices and wage price inflation.
However, sterling remained supported by speculation that the U.K. budget statement due later in the day would contain measures to support economic growth.
The euro was trading close to a five-month high against the broadly weaker yen, with EUR/JPY climbing 0.51% to hit 111.24.
The single currency was steady against the Swiss franc, with EUR/CHF inching up 0.01% to hit 1.2057.
The shared currency was broadly higher against the Canadian, Australian and New Zealand dollars, with EUR/CAD dipping 0.02% to hit 1.3108, EUR/AUD up 0.23% to hit 1.2647 and EUR/NZD gaining 0.20% to hit 1.6213.
Statistics New Zealand said earlier that the country’s fourth quarter current account deficit narrowed to NZD2.76 billion compared with a revised deficit of NZD4.75 billion in the three months to October and was better than forecasts for a deficit of NZD2.83 billion.
The data bolstered expectations that data on fourth quarter growth to be released later this week would also be in line with expectations.
Later Wednesday, the U.S. was to release industry data on existing home sales.
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Written By: Investing.com
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