TOKYO (MarketWatch) — The euro fell to its lowest point against the dollar in four months Tuesday, after International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde reportedly said the institution and its European partners aren’t ready to discuss terms of a second bailout package for Greece.
“In my view, we’re not at the stage of discussing the conditions and terms, and length and volume, and nothing should be taken for granted,” Lagarde, a former French finance minister, said at a media briefing in Washington. Read more on Lagarde's Greece comments.
The euro EURUSD -0.44% extended a slide to trade at $1.3960, compared with $1.4045 in late North American trading on Monday.
The currency recovered a bit from an earlier four-month low of $1.3931 according to FactSet Research data. See real-time currency quotes and tools.
Against the yen, the euro EURJPY -0.55% bought ¥111.84, down from ¥112.74 late Monday. The euro EURCHF -0.13% bought 1.1699 Swiss francs, down from 1.1741 francs Monday, and touched a new low of 1.1659 francs according to FactSet.
Euro-zone finance ministers met in on Brussels Monday to discuss solutions for Greece’s debt crisis. In a statement, the ministers reaffirmed their “absolute commitment” to safeguard financial stability in the euro area. Read more about the Eurogroup’s statement.
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News Hub: Italy’s euro debt crisis?
With no consensus on how to share the burden of a new Greek bailout with private-sector creditors, European finance ministers struggle to make progress at a meeting Monday, as concern shifts to Italy.
But the meeting did little to quell fears about debt contagion, with Italian government-bond yields and the cost of insuring Italian debt against default spiking to new highs. Read more on Italian bond yields.
The dollar index DXY +0.51% , which measures the U.S. unit’s value against a basket of six other major currencies, traded at 76.261, up from 75.941 late Monday.
But against the Japanese yen, the dollar USDJPY -0.15% slipped to ¥80.11, compared with ¥80.28 late Monday.
Currency markets had a muted reaction to the Bank of Japan’s widely expected decision to maintain its policy interest-rate range. The central bank was also more upbeat in its overall economic assessment, but it also cut its economic growth estimate for the fiscal year which began in April in a technical tweak to reflect the impact of the March 11 earthquake. Read more on Bank of Japan.
The dollar rose against the British pound GBPUSD -0.22% , which bought $1.5864 compared with $1.5901 late Monday. It also rose against the Australian dollar AUDUSD -0.49% , which was changing hands at $1.0600, compared with $1.0638.
Lisa Twaronite is MarketWatch's Tokyo bureau chief.
