Investing.com - The euro recovered some ground in Asia on Thursday as investors looked to China's stock market and a stability loan for Greece as key touch points as well as data from China and Australia on prices and jobs respectively in a busy regional day.
EUR/USD traded at 1.1075, down 0.02%, while USD/JPY changed hands at 121.15, up 0.34% after core machinery orders for May rose 0.6%, well above the expected drop of 5%.
Eurogroup President and European Stability Mechanism Chairman Jeroen Dijsselbloem sent a letter to the top euro zone economic officials asking them to assess Greece's request for a stability loan.
In China, June CPI rose 1.4%, above the 1.3% gain seen, while PPI fell 4.8%, more than the drop of 4.5% expected, indicating an easing in deflationary pressure on the consumer figure, but producer prices are at a four-month low and extend the run of negative growth to a record 40 months, highlighting the problems of widespread industrial overcapacity.
In Australia, the June labour force survey showed a gain of 7,300 jobs, well above a fall of 5,000 jobs month-on-month expected after a strong 42,000 rise in May. The unemployment rate held steady at 6.0% but the labor participation rate rose to 64.8% from 64.7%.
AUD/USD traded at 0.7461, up 0.46% as th mix of domestic jobs figures and China consumer prices provide support.
The People's Bank of China on Thursday provided liquidity to China Securities Finance Corp via re-lending at its request, state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.
The PBOC will also let the CSFC issue financial bonds, including short-term commercial paper in the interbank market, and pledged to continue to provide liquidity support to CSFC via various channels. The Shanghai Composite index gained 2.35% in morning trade.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.03% at 96.41.
Overnight, the dollar remained broadly lower against a basket of other major currencies on Wednesday, amid fresh hopes for a solution to Greece's debt crisis after euro zone officials gave the country until Thursday to present new proposals to secure a deal with creditors.
The yen rallied as Chinese shares continued to plunge overnight, bolstering demand for safe haven assets.
Chinese shares fell sharply on Wednesday, extending a broad based selloff despite fresh regulatory measures to restore investor confidence.
The selloff has been fueled by concerns over a slowdown in the world’s second largest economy and exacerbated by worries over risks to financial stability from the turmoil in the market.
If an agreement on Greece cannot be reached in time, European Union leaders will hold an emergency summit in Brussels on Sunday to discuss how to contain the fallout from a Greek exit from the euro zone.