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FOREX-Euro off lows, eyes on G7 call on Greece

Published 05/07/2010, 01:54 AM
Updated 05/07/2010, 02:12 AM

* Euro in small rebound after rout, climbs above $1.27

* G7 finmins to discuss Greece -U.S. Treasury official

* Japan finmin says G7 won't discuss joint fx intervention

* GBP hits 1-yr low on political uncertainty as vote unclear

By Satomi Noguchi

TOKYO, May 7 (Reuters) - The euro nursed chunky losses on Friday after news that finance ministers from Group of Seven nations will discuss debt-stricken Greece later in the day, while sterling hit a 1-year low against the dollar on political uncertainty in Britain.

The euro scraped back above $1.2700 after marking its latest 14-month low of $1.2510 on Thursday and shedding 1.6 percent when a steep plunge in U.S. stocks had regulators investigating whether erroneous trades had caused the fall.

Its rebound extended after a U.S. Treasury official said G7 finance ministers would discuss the Greek debt situation in a call on Friday, although Japan's finance minister said he did not think they were considering joint FX intervention.

Investor concern that Greece's debt woes could infect other debt-strapped euro zone members and possibly spread beyond Europe has caused a global rout which knocked down the euro and sent the dollar and the yen soaring.

"It's important to recognise that Japanese officials have come out and said joint intervention is unlikely which hoses down the expectations that were created by the announcement (of the call)," said David Forrester, vice president of global FX strategy at Barclays Capital in Singapore.

"What you'd expect ... is reassurance by European officials towards other G7 officials as well as global markets that they are working to solve Greek the problem.

The euro pulled up as high as $1.2737 on trading platform EBS but has lost about 4.5 percent on the week and is on course for its worst weekly performance since October 2008.

It stood at 116.70 yen after dropping as far as 110.49 yen on trading platform EBS on Thursday, when it shed 5 percent on the day and hit its weakest level since December 2001, according to Reuters data.

It pulled back up to 1.4115 Swiss francs after hitting a record low of 1.4005 francs the day before.

"The market is at loss as to where to find a conclusion to this Greece debt problem and there is fear that problems will spread to other countries," said a prop trader at a Japanese trust bank.

The renewed rush to safety supported the dollar and the yen. The dollar index was at 84.92, not far from a one-year high of 85.27.

The dollar could get a boost if U.S. jobs later in the day show 200,000 jobs were added in April, up from 162,000 in March..

The dollar also pared a chunk of its losses on the yen, rising above 92.00 yen, after hitting 87.95 on Thursday when it shed nearly 4 percent.

TORY FORECAST

Sterling fell 1 percent to $1.4638 after dropping as low as $1.4596, its lowest since April 2009.

The opposition Conservatives were forecast to emerge as the largest party after the closest election in three decades in Britain, but seen falling just short of an outright majority in parliament.

Many believe political uncertainty could derail any quick plans to put UK public finances in order and could prompt credit agencies to downgrade Britain from its AAA status.

"On election night in Britain we are seeing European sovereign debt problems playing a big part in the pound's fall," said Joseph Capurso, currency strategist at Commonwealth Bank. "The Greek contagion is moving to markets in Spain and Italy and that is definitely worrisome." (Additional reporting Anirban Nag in Sydney and Rika Otsuka and Charlotte Cooper in Tokyo; Editing by Joseph Radford)

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