Euro firms after Europe's bank stress-test results

NEW YORK : The euro strengthened slightly against the dollar Friday after the European Union announced that only eight o

Around 1605 GMT, the euro was trading at $1.4172, compared to $1.4141 late Thursday.

The European currency edged lower against the Japanese currency, to 111.85 yen from 111.89 yen around 2100 GMT Thursday. The dollar also weakened, to 79.00 yen from 79.13 yen.

Ahead of the keenly awaited results of the EU stress tests, the euro had slipped against the dollar.

The European Banking Authority announced that eight banks had flunked the "stress tests" to assess the ability of banks to withstand a worst-case economic scenario.

Together they need an injection of 2.5 billion euros ($3.5 billion) to meet new capital requirements, the EU banking regulator said in London on Friday.

Eight institutions -- including one Austrian, five Spanish, and two Greek banks -- have failed to meet the EBA's new capital requirements, the regulator said in a statement.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011

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