MW:Euro steady vs. dollar ahead of Italian auction
By Michael Kitchen, MarketWatch
LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) — The euro held steady against the U.S. dollar early Thursday ahead of a key Italian bond auction due later in the day.
The euro EURUSD -0.34% changed hands at $1.2938, unchanged from its level in late North American trade Wednesday.
The previous day’s trading had seen the euro fall to its lowest level since September 2010, as U.S. stocks extended losses after the European Central Bank released more data on its lending operations. See report on Wednesday’s foreign-exchange moves.
Later Thursday, Italy was slated to sell long-dated government debt, with markets concerned about the nation’s ability to borrow at high costs, even after it sold six-month bills Wednesday at a relatively low average yield.
Overall, the U.S. dollar was broadly weaker, with the dollar index DXY +0.23% — a measure of the currency against six rival units — slipped to 80.5140 from 80.526 late Wednesday, but still above levels earlier in the week.
The British pound GBPUSD -0.56% rose to $1.5467from $1.5455.
Against the Japanese yen, the dollar USDJPY -0.12% slipped to ¥77.68 from ¥77.95.
Michael Kitchen is Asia editor for MarketWatch and is based in Los Angeles.
