TOKYO: The euro clawed back some ground after hitting a fresh 10-year low against the yen in Asian trade Tuesday, with eurozone debt woes putting risk-sensitive currencies under pressure, dealers said.
Korean and Malaysian central banks were said by traders to have intervened to defend their units against a higher dollar, Dow Jones Newswires reported.
The European single currency fetched $1.3215 in Tokyo trade against $1.3178 in New York late Monday.
The euro fell as low as 100.88 yen in early trade, a level not seen since June 2001, before standing at 101.39 yen, up from 100.96 yen in New York overnight.
The dollar rose to 76.73 yen from 76.59 yen.
The Aussie dollar also tumbled against the greenback to a one-year low below 95 US cents. The Australian unit bought 94.76 US cents in afternoon trade, down from 95.40.
Korean and Malaysian central banks were thought to have intervened in the currency market, buying their own currencies against the dollar above 1,200.00 won and at 3.2130 ringgit, respectively, traders told Dow Jones Newswires.
The greenback was at 1,186.79 won and 3.2268 ringgit as of 0250 GMT.
Market participants are cautiously watching the ongoing meeting of eurozone finance ministers in Luxembourg, with uncertainty surrounding the next tranche of financial aid for Greece weighing on the euro and global risk sentiment.
Eurozone finance ministers on Monday delayed a decision on giving Greece the next instalment of bailout cash, a decision which came after Athens said it would miss this year's deficit-cutting target.
Greece's admission sparked a global market selloff Monday amid fears it would default, which would send shockwaves through the global economy.
A decision on the next 8.0 billion euro ($10.9 billion) tranche of bailout cash, which Athens needs to avoid a near-term default, has been delayed until mid-October.
Japan's Finance Minister Jun Azumi on Tuesday called for the swift passage of a rescue package to bail out Greece, to reassure markets and help stem the yen's recent surge against the euro.
"The sense of uncertainty cannot be wiped out unless (euro member states) clearly show to the market the process of swiftly implementing the assistance scheme for Greece."
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou will now have to agree "additional measures" with international auditors, Eurozone chief Jean-Claude Juncker said.
BNZ currency strategist Mike Burrowes told Dow Jones Newswires: "Juncker came out said they wouldn't make a decision during that meeting... so that's obviously causing speculation that they (Greece) may not receive it."
Junya Tanase, chief currency strategist at JP Morgan in Tokyo, said the euro may fall below the 100-yen threshold "in coming days" if the euro continues to underperform on the back of the European debt crisis.
But Tanase added JP Morgan sees little chance that Japanese authorities will step into the market to prop up the euro against the yen.
Comments
Comments are closed.