Investing.com - The euro came under pressure against most of its major counterparts on Monday, as soaring Spanish borrowing costs sparked fresh concerns over the worsening of the debt crisis in the euro zone.
During European late morning trade, the euro was weaker against the U.S. dollar, with EUR/USD slipping 0.05% to 1.2281.
Sentiment on the euro remained fragile after Spanish 10-year yields rose above the psychologically important 7% in early European trade, hitting a high of 7.1%. Similar-maturity Italian yields increased to 6.15%.
Market were eyeing a meeting of euro zone finance ministers in Brussels later in the day to discuss a plan announced last month to help the region’s indebted nations and banking systems.
The euro came under further pressure after data showed that investor confidence in the euro zone for July deteriorated to the lowest level since July 2009, remaining in negative territory for the 12th consecutive month.
Sentix research group said its index of investor confidence declined to minus 29.6 in July from June’s reading of minus 28.9.
The euro was also lower against the pound, with EUR/GBP shedding 0.08% to trade at 0.7928.
The outlook for the pound remained clouded, after the Bank of England said last week that “the weaker outlook for U.K. output growth means that the margin of economic slack is likely to be greater and more persistent.”
The comments came after BoE policymakers voted to increase its quantitative easing program by GBP50 billion to GBP375 billion, in order to shield the recession hit U.K. economy from the ongoing debt crisis in the euro zone.
The single currency edged lower against the yen, with EUR/JPY shedding 0.06% to trade at 97.81, but remained little changed against the Swiss franc, with EUR/CHF trading at 1.2011.
Elsewhere, the euro was mostly higher against the growth-linked Canadian, Australian and New Zealand dollars, with EUR/CAD easing up 0.1% to hit 1.2535, EUR/AUD up 0.4% to hit 1.2082 and EUR/NZD gaining 0.4% to 1.5466.
The commodity-linked currencies were hit by concerns over a deeper-than-expected slowdown in China. Government data released earlier showed that consumer price inflation accelerated at the slowest rate since January 2010 in June.
An unexpected rate cut from China last week stocked fears of a deeper-than-expected slowdown in the world’s second largest economy.
Premier Wen Jiabao said over the weekend that China’s economy faces “relatively large” downward pressure in the near-term.
Later in the session, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi was to testify before the European Parliament, in Brussels.
During European late morning trade, the euro was weaker against the U.S. dollar, with EUR/USD slipping 0.05% to 1.2281.
Sentiment on the euro remained fragile after Spanish 10-year yields rose above the psychologically important 7% in early European trade, hitting a high of 7.1%. Similar-maturity Italian yields increased to 6.15%.
Market were eyeing a meeting of euro zone finance ministers in Brussels later in the day to discuss a plan announced last month to help the region’s indebted nations and banking systems.
The euro came under further pressure after data showed that investor confidence in the euro zone for July deteriorated to the lowest level since July 2009, remaining in negative territory for the 12th consecutive month.
Sentix research group said its index of investor confidence declined to minus 29.6 in July from June’s reading of minus 28.9.
The euro was also lower against the pound, with EUR/GBP shedding 0.08% to trade at 0.7928.
The outlook for the pound remained clouded, after the Bank of England said last week that “the weaker outlook for U.K. output growth means that the margin of economic slack is likely to be greater and more persistent.”
The comments came after BoE policymakers voted to increase its quantitative easing program by GBP50 billion to GBP375 billion, in order to shield the recession hit U.K. economy from the ongoing debt crisis in the euro zone.
The single currency edged lower against the yen, with EUR/JPY shedding 0.06% to trade at 97.81, but remained little changed against the Swiss franc, with EUR/CHF trading at 1.2011.
Elsewhere, the euro was mostly higher against the growth-linked Canadian, Australian and New Zealand dollars, with EUR/CAD easing up 0.1% to hit 1.2535, EUR/AUD up 0.4% to hit 1.2082 and EUR/NZD gaining 0.4% to 1.5466.
The commodity-linked currencies were hit by concerns over a deeper-than-expected slowdown in China. Government data released earlier showed that consumer price inflation accelerated at the slowest rate since January 2010 in June.
An unexpected rate cut from China last week stocked fears of a deeper-than-expected slowdown in the world’s second largest economy.
Premier Wen Jiabao said over the weekend that China’s economy faces “relatively large” downward pressure in the near-term.
Later in the session, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi was to testify before the European Parliament, in Brussels.