New worries over Greece deal send euro lower

NEW YORK: New worries about Greece's debt deal and Moody's downgrade and outlook cut of nine EU countries pushed the eur
14 Feb, 2012

 

Also dimming confidence in the euro was the OECD warning that Germany's economy is poised to slow almost to a halt this year.

At 2200 GMT, the euro was at $1.3134, down from $1.3191 at the same time on Monday.

However, the euro gained against the Japanese currency, rising to 103.02 yen from 102.34, while the dollar also rose, trading at 78.48 yen compared with 77.58 late Monday.

Eurozone finance ministers put a new Greek bailout on hold Tuesday after Athens failed to meet conditions set by lenders in return for a rescue package Athens desperately needs to avoid default.

"I did not yet receive the required political assurances from the leaders of the Greek coalition parties on the implementation of the program," said Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, head of the group of eurozone finance ministers.

"With this latest news, it has become evident that the Greek economy is much worse off than previously feared, raising concerns that even more money will be needed to help the country avoid an almost inevitable default," said Max Oltersdorf of Daily FX.

The dollar meanwhile rose against the Swiss currency, to 0.9189 francs from 0.9161 late Monday.

The British pound fell to $1.5696 compared with $1.5768 the previous day.

 

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2012

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