The euro weakened against all but two of 16 major peers tracked by Bloomberg after Moody’s Investors Service cut Portugal’s credit rating to below investment grade, stoking speculation it will need a second bailout. The 17-member common currency slipped for a second day versus the dollar and yen after Moody’s lowered the nation’s long-term government bond ratings to Ba2, or junk, from Baa1. The reductions stem partly from “the growing risk that Portugal will require a second round of official financing before it can return to the private market,” Moody’s said in a statement. “Heightened market attention upon funding concerns in Portugal should weigh upon the euro,” Lee Hardman, a currency strategist at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd. in London, wrote in a research note. The euro declined 0.2 percent to $1.4399 as of 8:28 a.m. in London, erasing an earlier advance of as much as 0.3 percent. It slid 0.4 percent to 116.51 yen. To contact the reporter on this story: Lucy Meakin in London at lmeakin1@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Daniel Tilles at dtilles@bloomberg.net.

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