Euro under pressure as Greece turmoil weighs

Published 05/21/2012, 06:30 AM
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Investing.com - The euro was marginally lower against its major counterparts on Monday, as investor fears over the implications of a Greek exit from the euro zone overshadowed a pledge by G8 leaders to bolster growth in their economies.

During European late morning trade, the euro was fractionally lower against the U.S. dollar, with EUR/USD inching down 0.05% to hit 1.2771.

Market sentiment firmed up after a weekend summit of the G8 nations saw leaders affirm that they want Greece to remain in the euro zone and pledge to take measures to shore up growth in their economies.

But investors remained cautious after leaders failed to reach an agreement on how to calm market turmoil stemming from the crisis in the region.

Concerns over political turmoil in Greece eased somewhat after opinion polls indicated that pro-bailout party, New Democracy was leading the polls ahead of fresh elections, due to be held on June 17.

Uncertainty over the outcome of the elections has sparked fears over Greece’s ability to honor its financial commitments and its possible exit from the euro zone.

Meanwhile, concerns over the health of Spain’s banking sector also weighed, pushing the yield on Spanish 10-year bonds to 6.29% earlier.

Elsewhere, the single currency was hovering just below a two-week high against the pound, with EUR/GBP dipping 0.06% to hit 0.8074.

The euro was higher against the yen, with EUR/JPY adding 0.29% to hit 101.27 and remained flat against the Swiss franc, with EUR/CHF trading at 1.2011.

Elsewhere, the shared currency was broadly lower against the Canadian, Australian and New Zealand dollars, with EUR/CAD shedding 0.31% to hit 1.3020, EUR/AUD slipping 0.13% to hit 1.2963 and EUR/NZD losing 0.27% to hit 1.6849.

The commodity linked dollars found support after comments by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Sunday indicated that Beijing was willing to do more to support growth in the world’s second largest economy.

Markets were looking ahead to a meeting between German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble and his newly appointed French counterpart, Pierre Moscovici, later in the day, as European Union leaders prepared for Wednesday’s summit meeting.



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