Markets

Yen slips as euro-dollar trades flat

Published October 15, 2012 Updated October 15, 2012 11:44pm

At 2100 GMT the euro was trading at $1.2950, slightly down from $1.2958 late Friday.

The dollar rose to 78.66 yen from 78.39, while the euro moved to 101.89 yen from 101.60.

Data from Beijing showing Chinese exports gaining more than expected against steady import growth helped overall sentiment, with the world's second largest economy appearing more firm than many have worried.

"The view that China is headed for a 'hard landing' is indeed softening," said Christopher Vecchio, an analyst at DailyFX.

"With (China's) third quarter GDP on tap for this Thursday, we expect Chinese-linked currencies (the Australian and New Zealand dollars and the Japanese yen) to see a bit more action in the coming days," he said.

Meanwhile, the European Union holds a new summit Thursday with the focus expected to be on the possibility of a bailout for Spain, Greece's push for a modified rescue deal, and pushing forward on a banking union.

"It appears that there's a growing consensus for 'more time' for Greece, with reports indicating that Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras will agree to new austerity measures," said Vecchio.

"Greek bond yields sank today, so perhaps there is some credibility to these reports."

In other currency action, the dollar was little-changed against the Swiss franc, at 0.9328 francs, while the British pound edged higher to $1.6072 from $1.6069.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2012