Euro slumps in Asia

The euro fell to a seven-week low against the dollar and a two-month trough against the yen on Monday and is seen testing pivotal support areas after IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was charged with attempted rape on the weekend, increasing uncertainty on aid for Greece and other indebted eurozone countries.
The shocking news on Strauss-Kahn, who had been seen as a front runner to be France's next president, soured investor risk appetite, which had already been strained by a rout in various commodities and falls in share prices in the past two weeks. The euro fell as far as $1.4048, its lowest since March 30, having dropped 6 percent from a 17-month peak of $1.4940 hit less than two weeks ago.
Still, investors were careful about selling the European currency further as $1.40 appeared to be an important psychological level. There is talk of some large bids in the euro from around $1.4050 to $1.4000. Just below that, the $1.3900 to $1.4000 region is an area that has a bunch of support levels, but also where stop-loss orders are said to be lurking.
In terms of support, the euro's 200-week moving average lies right around $1.4000, the bottom of the daily Ichimoku cloud is at $1.3957, the 100-day moving average is at $1.3922 and the 50 percent retracement of the euro's January to May rally lies near $1.39. Still, a break of this area could point to a target of $1.3655.
Market players said the euro could come under pressure as a resolution to the Greek crisis is unlikely at a eurozone finance ministers meeting on Monday. Oil and precious metals were weaker in early Monday trade, not helping the euro, while the Australian dollar also slipped 0.2 percent on Monday to $1.0550. As the euro sagged, the greenback's index against a basket of six major currencies hit a six-week high of 75.950.
The dollar had been falling for much of this year on the view that the Fed will be extremely reluctant to raise rates as it worries about persistently high unemployment.
The Japanese yen was briefly helped by a stronger-than-expected reading in Japan's machinery orders data for March, but it quickly lost gains as the data is known to be highly volatile and gives little insight on the impact of the March 11 quake. The yen stood at 80.94 yen per dollar. The US regulator's data showed speculators became net long in the yen for the first time in six weeks last week. The euro edged above 114 yen after slipping to a two-month low of 113.35 yen.