NEW YORK: The euro reversed four days of losses and climbed back against the dollar in late trade Thursday helped by signs that Greece's complex new rescue package might be moving ahead.
At 2200 GMT the euro was at $1.3132, up from $1.3065 late Wednesday after having sunk below $1.30 line earlier in the day.
The euro got a boost from unconfirmed reports that the European Central Bank and individual country central banks are swapping their Greek bonds for new issues, taken as a sign that the complex deal to refinance Greece's government might be going through.
According to the reports, profits from the swap will be passed on to European governments ostensibly to be used in the coming second rescue fund for Athens -- now expected to be decided on Monday.
"There has been no confirmation by the ECB of this intention," noted Kathy Lien of currency specialists GFT.
"The governments can do with the profits as they please but the general belief is that they would use the money to fund a second bailout for Greece."
"We can tell by today's price action... exactly how much investors want and hope that a deal will be done to save Greece from default," she added.
The yen continued to fall in the wake of the Bank of Japan's Tuesday announcement that it will pump $130 billion more into the ailing economy to combat stubborn deflation.
The dollar climbed to 78.90 yen from 78.43, while the euro hit 103.63 yen from 102.47 Wednesday.
The dollar eased to 0.9190 Swiss francs from 0.9234 francs. he British pound rebounded to $1.5797 from $1.5691.
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