NEW YORK: The dollar firmed sharply against the euro Wednesday as investors fretted about Greece's debt crisis amid widespread protests against the government's austerity program.
The euro was trading at $1.4193 around 2100 GMT, down from $1.4410 Tuesday at the same time.
In intra-day trade the European currency had slumped to $1.4170, its lowest level since April 18.
The dollar edged up slightly against the Japanese currency, rising to 81.02 yen from 80.83 yen late Tuesday.
"The single currency remains constrained by sovereign debt concerns on a day when a general strike in Greece has brought the country to a standstill," said Michael Hewson at CMC Markets in London.
Nick Bennenbroek at Wells Fargo said the markets were waiting to see if Greece will receive a further bailout.
"In this case no news is bad news," he said.
"Until we get something concrete from European authorities as to exactly how the renewed concerns around Greece are going to be addressed, it's going to continue to be a weight on the euro."
In Athens police clashed with protesters near the Greek parliament as thousands demonstrated against a new wave of austerity cuts designed to keep the country's economy afloat.
Greece last year pledged to put its economy in order after taking a 110-billion-euro ($156-billion) loan from the European Union and International Monetary Fund to avert insolvency when its borrowing costs went through the roof.
However its overall debt has exploded to 340 billion euros, leading to mounting speculation even from Greek officials that it will need alternative options to keep up with repayments when the EU-IMF loan runs out in 2013.
Brown Brothers Harriman analyst Win Thin said the market had abandoned the view of the Greek crisis that the EU-IMF bailout could solve its debt problems.
"Now, Greece appears to have become a much bigger problem whose default/restructuring could throw the entire European banking system into turmoil," he said.
In late New York trade against the Swiss currency, the dollar fetched 0.8872 francs, up from 0.8798 late Tuesday.
The pound held fairly steady, at $1.6346 compared with $1.6367.
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