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Forex - U.S. dollar higher on Greek triggered risk flight

Published 01/24/2012, 03:17 PM
Updated 01/24/2012, 03:20 PM
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Investing.com -  The U.S. dollar traded broadly higher against most of its major counterparts Tuesday, as investors fled to the safety of the greenback in the face of renewed Greek worries.    

During early session U.S. trade, slipped lower against the euro, with EUR/USD gaining 0.08% to hit 1.3023.  

The single currency came under pressure when word that the Greek debt swap talks had stymied.   

News  from the euro zone that finance ministers rejected demands by Greece's creditors to issue new bonds with an interest rate of 4%, stalemated the debt swap negotiations.  

This information effectively put to rest rumors of yesterday's Greek debt agreement as finance ministers failed to agree on a debt deal and called for a greater contribution from bondholders.  

Yves Maillot of Robeco Gestions explained to Bloomberg, "It seems we are far from an agreement. The problem of solvency of countries remains, along with the Greek situation."  

Officials at the meeting in Brussels yesterday scoffed at putting up more money for Greece, calling on bondholders to provide debt relief.  

However, Greek Finance Minister Evangelo Venizelo remains confident by stating that the Greek government intends to wrap up the debt swap talks with private creditors by February 1.  

Adding to the U.S. dollar positive tensions, Standard & Poor's stated it was likely to put Greece into "selective default" even after the debt negotiation are completed.  

However, the single currency briefly hit near three week highs against the greenback when data indicated that manufacturing and service sectors showed improvement.  

The greenback traded lower against the pound, with GBP/USD climbing 0.23% to hit 1.5602  

Sterling's gains were cut short on speculation that the Bank of England may announce monetary easing measures as soon as February to stimulate growth.    

Elsewhere, the greenback was higher against the yen and against the Swiss franc with USD/JPY gaining 0.71% to 77.74 and USD/CHF advancing 0.09% to hit 0.9285.  

Earlier, The Bank of Japan left interest rates unchanged while issuing a downward revision for growth in fiscal 2012.   .

In addition the greenback was higher against its Canadian and Australian cousins but lower against New Zealand with USD/CAD gaining 0.12% to hit 1.0099, AUD/USD dropping 0.41% to hit 1.0481 and NZD/USD climbing  0.10% to 0.8108.  

In Canada, data indicated that retail sales climbed 0.03% in November, meeting analyst's forecasts.  

The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, climbed 0.18% to hit 80.02.  

Meanwhile, Spain auctioned EUR2.51 billion of short term debt, meeting with heavy investor demand and sharply lower yields.  

Investors are awaiting U.K. GDP data as well as mortgage approvals and the Bank of England's meeting minutes. In the U.S., housing market data, crude oil stockpiles and the federal fund rate are on the agenda Wednesday.  

In other news, the World Economic Forum begins its annual five day meeting in Davos, Switzerland tomorrow.





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