BLBG:Euro Climbs A Second Day As German GDP Slows Less Than Forecast
The euro rose for a second day against the dollar and the yen as Germany’s economic growth slowed less than economists forecast and France unexpectedly avoided a contraction.
The back-to-back gains versus the yen were the first in more than two weeks as German gross domestic product rose 0.3 percent in the second quarter, beating the 0.2 percent median prediction of 40 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. The yen weakened at least 0.3 percent against all 16 of its major counterparts and stocks rallied after minutes of the Bank of Japan (8301)’s July meeting signaled policy makers are considering ways to expand stimulus.
The 17-nation currency gained 0.4 percent to $1.2378 at 9:06 a.m. London time. It advanced 0.7 percent to 97.25 yen, adding to yesterday’s 0.4 percent increase. That’s the first time the euro has gained against its Japanese peer on consecutive days since July 27. The yen fell 0.3 percent to 78.58 per dollar.
Euro gains are “a reaction to the positive surprise in German GDP and the French data,” Lutz Karpowitz, a senior foreign-exchange strategist at Commerzbank AG, said by phone from Frankfurt. There is “positive market sentiment but it’s a very fragile one,” he said.
French GDP was unchanged in the quarter, better than the 0.1 percent decline economists had predicted, according to data from Insee, the national statistics office in Paris.
The euro has had the biggest decline this year among 10 major currencies tracked by Bloomberg Correlation-Weighted Indexes, falling 5.5 percent, while the dollar has lost 0.6 percent while the yen slipped 2.9 percent.
The pound slipped against the euro as a U.K. house-price index reached a year-low. Sterling lost 0.2 percent to 78.80 pence per euro.
To contact the reporter on this story: Lukanyo Mnyanda in Edinburgh at lmnyanda@bloomberg.net; Kristine Aquino in Singapore at kaquino1@bloomberg.net;
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Daniel Tilles at dtilles@bloomberg.net
