TOKYO: The euro was on Friday close to its lowest levels in more than a decade after the European Central Bank launched a vast bond-buying programme aimed at kickstarting the eurozone economy.
The single currency -- which hit an 11-year low of $1.1316 after the announcement Thursday -- bought $1.1342 in Tokyo afternoon trade. That is down from $1.1359 late in New York and well off the levels above $1.16 seen earlier Thursday in Asia.
It also fell to 134.25 yen, against 134.63 yen in US trade and 136.80 yen Thursday in Tokyo.
The dollar edged down to 118.35 yen against 118.52 yen in New York.
The ECB said it would inject 60 billion euros a month into financial markets from March until September 2016, a programme known as quantitative easing (QE). Analysts had been expecting it to buy 50 billion euros a month.
The move came after the region's inflation turned negative in December, stoking fears that the 19-nation eurozone is on the brink of a dangerous deflationary spiral.
Analysts said the single currency could weaken further as the ECB announcement underscores a growing policy divergence with the US Federal Reserve.
The Fed wrapped up its own quantitative easing (QE) programme in October and is now considering an interest rate hike this year.
"The euro has more downside as the monetary policy divergence will likely become clear with the Fed meeting next week," Etsuko Yamashita, chief economist at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking, told Bloomberg News.
"The ECB's decision implies quantitative easing will last for a considerably long time and is spurring euro selling in reaction."
The euro also slipped to 0.9862 Swiss francs, from 0.9897 in New York, while the British pound briefly dipped below $1.50 for the first time since mid-2013.
Traders are also keeping any eye on weekend elections in Greece where the left-wing Syriza party could win on its pledge to redraft the country's multi-billion EU-IMF bailout and erase most of its huge debt. That has stoked fears of Greece's eventual exit from the eurozone.
Other Asia-Pacific currencies mostly rose against the dollar.
The greenback weakened to 61.43 Indian rupees from 61.59 rupees on Thursday, to 44.14 Philippine pesos from 44.39 pesos, to 1,084.43 South Korean won from 1,085.60 won, and to Tw$31.31 from Tw$31.43.
It also slipped to 32.60 Thai baht from 32.61 baht, and was flat at 12,471.00 Indonesian rupiah. It rose to Sg$1.3387 from Sg$1.3339.
The Australian dollar briefly dipped to 79.95 US cents -- the first time it has fallen below 80 cents since mid-2009 -- before ticking back up to 80 cents. It had bought 80.63 cents on Thursday.
The Chinese yuan fetched 19.05 yen compared with 19.02 yen.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.