The euro rose for a second day versus the dollar and yen amid speculation Portugal’s parliament is coming closer to agreeing on a budget and as euro-area finance chiefs hold a conference call today on Greece. The 17-nation currency strengthened against 13 of its 16 major counterparts before Portuguese lawmakers hold an initial vote on the 2013 budget proposal. The dollar fell after Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Narayana Kocherlakota said yesterday monetary policy is currently “too tight,� speaking as the northeast U.S. assessed the damage caused by the tropical cyclone Sandy. Norway’s krone rose after the central bank said it won’t buy foreign currency. “Positive news from the parliaments of Greece and Portugal -- that could be supportive for the euro,� said Jane Foley, a senior currency strategist at Rabobank International in London. “The perception that the Fed could leave policy more accommodative for longer on the back of the rebuild because of the floods is also supportive. If it’s good for risk appetite, you could see it pushing the euro a little bit higher.� The euro advanced 0.4 percent to $1.3014 at 7:32 a.m. New York time after appreciating 0.4 percent yesterday. The shared currency gained 0.7 percent to 103.90 yen after climbing to 104.59 on Oct. 23, the strongest since May 4. The yen weakened 0.3 percent to 79.85 per dollar. Portugal, Greece The Portuguese parliament is due to hold a final budget vote on Nov. 27. The coalition government is backed by the Social Democrats and the conservative CDS party, which together have a majority of seats in the legislature. The Greek government will also present its budget to parliament today, though no date has been set for a vote. With Greece facing an unprecedented sixth year of recession, euro-area officials are preparing to allow Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’s government “a somewhat flatter adjustment path� in achieving its deficit-reduction goal, said Thomas Wieser, head of the group that prepares meetings of regional finance ministers. The ministers may release a statement after their conference call, which was due to begin at 12:30 p.m. in Brussels. The euro has strengthened 1.4 percent this month, the second-best performance after the Swiss franc among the 10 developed-nation currencies tracked by Bloomberg Correlation- Weighted Indexes. The yen fell 2.6 percent, and the dollar rose 0.1 percent. Dollar Index The Dollar Index dropped for a second day after Kocherlakota said yesterday Duluth, Minnesota that he “strongly� disagreed with the view that the Fed’s policy has been too accommodative. The Federal Open Market Committee voted last week to continue buying $40 billion in mortgage bonds each month, aiming to reduce unemployment. The Minneapolis Fed chief has been calling for additional stimulus through a more explicit pledge to keep interest rates near zero. U.S. stock markets will resume trading today, according to statements by NYSE Euronext, Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. and Bats Global Markets Inc. Fixed-income trading, halted at noon on Oct. 29, is also open, under a recommendation by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association. The Dollar Index (DXY), which IntercontinentalExchange Inc. uses to track the greenback against the currencies of six U.S. trading partners, fell 0.3 percent to 79.697. Krone Gains Norway’s krone rose at least 0.3 percent against all its major counterparts after Norges Bank said it wouldn’t purchase foreign currency for its sovereign oil fund in November. “One of the biggest headwinds against near-term krone strength has been averted,� Erica Blomgren, chief strategist at SEB AB in Oslo, wrote in reply to e-mailed questions. The krone appreciated 0.9 percent to 5.6819 per dollar after rising as much as 1 percent. The currency advanced 0.4 percent to 7.3957 per euro. The pound strengthened for a second day against the dollar amid speculation the Bank of England will refrain from adding monetary stimulus to the economy when it meets next week. The central bank will announce on Nov. 8 whether to increase its target for asset purchases, or quantitative easing, from 375 billion pounds ($604 billion) after data last week showed gross domestic product expanded 1 percent last quarter as the economy emerged from a recession. Sterling rose 0.3 percent to $1.6120 and dropped 0.2 percent to 80.75 pence per euro. -- With assistance from Stephen Treloar in Oslo and Neal Armstrong in London. Editors: Nicholas Reynolds, Paul Dobson To contact the reporter on this story: Lucy Meakin in London at lmeakin1@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Dobson at pdobson2@bloomberg.net

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