Investing.com - The euro was steady against the yen on Monday, trading close to an 11-year low after a French debt auction met with weaker-than-expected investor demand as investors remained cautious after the downgrade of nine euro zone countries on Friday.
EUR/JPY hit 97.04 during European afternoon trade, the pair’s lowest in eleven years; the pair subsequently consolidated at 97.19, shedding 0.38%.
The pair was likely to find support at 95.20 and resistance at 98.24, the high of January 9.
France sold EUR4.503 billion of 12-week Treasury bills at a yield of 0.16%, up from 0.02% at a previous auction.
The French Treasury also sold EUR2.192 billion of 25-week bills at a yield of 0.28%, up from 0.03%, and EUR1.895 billion of 51-week bills at yield of 0.40%, down from 0.53%.
Earlier Monday, ratings agency Moody’s said it was maintaining France’s triple-A rating and stable outlook for its debt for now, but added that it would update markets in the first quarter of 2012.
Market sentiment was hit on Friday after Standard & Poor’s cut France’s triple-A rating by one notch and said it would decide shortly whether to downgrade the triple-A rating on the euro zone's bailout fund, the European Financial Stability Facility.
S&P also downgraded eight other euro zone sovereigns, including Italy, Spain, Cyprus and Portugal.
Earlier Monday, Japan’s Finance Minister Jun Azumi said that his government was concerned about the recent "rapid" fall of the euro against the yen and urged European leaders to step up efforts to establish a firewall to contain the negative effects of the region’s debt crisis.
Meanwhile, the yen was up against the U.S. dollar with USD/JPY declining 0.31%, to hit 76.72.
Also Monday, official data showed earlier that core machinery orders in Japan rose far more-than-expected in November, surging 14.8% after a 6.9% decline the previous month.
Analysts had expected core machinery orders to rise 5.8% in November.
EUR/JPY hit 97.04 during European afternoon trade, the pair’s lowest in eleven years; the pair subsequently consolidated at 97.19, shedding 0.38%.
The pair was likely to find support at 95.20 and resistance at 98.24, the high of January 9.
France sold EUR4.503 billion of 12-week Treasury bills at a yield of 0.16%, up from 0.02% at a previous auction.
The French Treasury also sold EUR2.192 billion of 25-week bills at a yield of 0.28%, up from 0.03%, and EUR1.895 billion of 51-week bills at yield of 0.40%, down from 0.53%.
Earlier Monday, ratings agency Moody’s said it was maintaining France’s triple-A rating and stable outlook for its debt for now, but added that it would update markets in the first quarter of 2012.
Market sentiment was hit on Friday after Standard & Poor’s cut France’s triple-A rating by one notch and said it would decide shortly whether to downgrade the triple-A rating on the euro zone's bailout fund, the European Financial Stability Facility.
S&P also downgraded eight other euro zone sovereigns, including Italy, Spain, Cyprus and Portugal.
Earlier Monday, Japan’s Finance Minister Jun Azumi said that his government was concerned about the recent "rapid" fall of the euro against the yen and urged European leaders to step up efforts to establish a firewall to contain the negative effects of the region’s debt crisis.
Meanwhile, the yen was up against the U.S. dollar with USD/JPY declining 0.31%, to hit 76.72.
Also Monday, official data showed earlier that core machinery orders in Japan rose far more-than-expected in November, surging 14.8% after a 6.9% decline the previous month.
Analysts had expected core machinery orders to rise 5.8% in November.