Euro climbs against dollar after Greek deal

TOKYO: The euro climbed to its highest point in nearly a month against the dollar in Asia Monday amid progress in efforts to deal with Greece's debt crisis, dealers said.

After rising as high as $1.4580 earlier, the highest level since June 9, the euro stood at $1.4541 in Tokyo morning trading against $1.4522 in New York late Friday.

The European single unit also firmed to 117.46 yen from 117.40 yen.

The dollar was almost flat at 80.77 yen against 80.81 yen.

Eurozone finance ministers cleared the way Saturday for Greece to receive urgent funds to avoid imminent bankruptcy, but warned it would take weeks to conclude a new bailout for the debt-hit nation.

Greece is expected to receive 12 billion euros from the eurozone and International Monetary Fund by July 15 after the ministers approved the fifth tranche of aid from last year's 110-billion-euro ($160 billion) financial rescue package.

"An optimistic mood had been spreading since the Greek parliament last week passed the vote," for an austerity package vital to Greece receiving additional rescue funds, said Gen Kawabe, dealer at Chuo Mitsui Trust and Banking.

"We never know what would happen in the medium to long-term, but concern over a possible Greek default has diminished at least for the near term," Kawabe said.

The European Central Bank is widely expected to raise interest rates by 0.25 percentage points at its policy meeting on Thursday.

The market is closely watching comments from ECB officials about the state of the economy for clues as to whether the central bank will raise rates again in August, dealers said.

"If these comments aren't too dovish, we expect the euro will remain firm going forward," Barclays Capital chief Japan strategist Masafumi Yamamoto told Dow Jones Newswires.

The closely watched US IMS survey released Friday showed the nation's manufacturing sector picked up pace in June, with its purchasing managers index rising 1.8 percent to a better-than-expected 55.3, from 53.5 in May.

"The positive US data helped increase investors' risk appetite, giving a boost to the euro," Kawabe said.

He said upcoming US data, including a jobs report on Friday, would give further clues as to the strength of the economy.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011