Euro falls below $1.27 amid Greek uncertainty
By Michael Kitchen, MarketWatch
LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) — Concerns surrounding Greece’s fiscal crisis sent the euro below the $1.27 handle to hit a two-month low against the dollar Tuesday.
The euro (ICAPC:EURUSD) fell to $1.2683 during Asia hours, down from $1.2711 in late North American trade.
The decline came after euro-zone finance ministers failed to reach agreement to disburse the next round of financial aid to Greece, pushing a decision on the matter to later this month. Read: Euro zone aims for Nov. 20 Greek aid decision
Crédit Agricole said the euro-dollar pair looked likely to test its 100-day moving average around $1.2639. And while a strong result from German investor-sentiment data, due out later in the day, could offer the European currency “a little respite,” it was likely to “be insufficient to turn the [euro] around in the short term,” the firm said.
“At a time when the U.S. fiscal cliff is rapidly overtaking peripheral euro-zone issues as a cause for concern, the inability of the [euro] to capitalize on this is a bit disconcerting,” Crédit Agricole said in a strategy note Tuesday.
With most majors losing ground against the greenback, the ICE dollar index (NYE:DXY) , which measures the U.S. unit against a basket of six other currencies, rose to 81.162 from 81.052 late Monday.
Among the currencies losing ground to the dollar, the Australian dollar (ICAPC:AUDUSD) fell to $1.0405 from $1.0431, while the British pound (ICAPC:GBPUSD) slipped to $1.5861 from $1.5878.
The Japanese yen pushed higher against both the dollar and euro, however, with the moves helping Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei Stock Average (TYO:JP:100000018) end lower for a seventh session, down 0.2%.
The dollar (ICAPC:USDJPY) fell to ¥79.28 from ¥79.49, while the euro (ICAPC:EURJPY) lost almost half a yen to trade at ¥100.58 versus late Monday’s ¥101.06.
