Dollar slips amid Europe debt woes

NEW YORK: The dollar drifted slightly lower against other major currencies Monday as France and Germany pledged to speed
09 Jan, 2012

The euro traded at $1.276 around 2200 GMT, up from $1.2717 at the same time Friday.

Earlier, in Asia trade, the shared European currency had fallen to $1.2666, its lowest level since September 2010.

The dollar also edged down against the Japanese currency, to 76.84 yen from 76.96 yen on Friday.

"The greenback remained weak through New York trading as sentiment was relatively stable in a lackluster session," said Eric Viloria at Forex.com.

Traders appeared underwhelmed by a meeting between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy to discuss the eurozone's debt crisis.

"The meeting lacked significant developments containing much of the usual rhetoric which saw the euro move lower initially. The common currency regained some strength on the back of firming risk appetite and a weaker buck," Viloria said.

The Forex.com analyst predicted the euro and dollar would hold fairly steady ahead of Thursday's European Central Bank policy meeting.

The ECB, after cutting interest rates for the past two months, is unlikely to do so again this month, analysts say.

Last month the ECB lowered eurozone borrowing costs to their previous historical low of 1.0 percent.

The dollar also weakened against the Swiss currency, dipping to 0.9494 francs from 0.9551 francs late Friday.

The greenback fell against the British pound to $1.5454 from $1.5425.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2012

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