BLBG:Euro Falls Versus Major Peers as European Finance Ministers Meet
The euro fell versus all but two of its 16 major peers amid concern that the region’s debt crisis was escalating as European ministers meet in Dublin to discuss Cyprus, Greece and Slovenia.
The 17-nation currency pared a weekly advance versus the dollar after Germany’s Handelsblatt newspaper reported a discussion on direct bank recapitalization from Europe’s bailout fund was “going in circles.” The dollar was set for a weekly decline versus most of its counterparts before a report that economists said will show U.S. retail sales stalled in March. The yen halted a slide that brought it within 0.1 percent of 100 per dollar before a Group of 20 meeting next week.
“The resilience of the euro has been surprising of late,” said Jeremy Stretch, head of currency strategy at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce in London. “We are starting to look back with a closer eye on all events European. The structural negatives are there wherever you look.”
The euro fell 0.2 percent to $1.3072 at 9:27 a.m. London time after strengthening to $1.3138 yesterday, the most since Feb. 28. The common currency weakened 0.5 percent to 129.88 yen after advancing to 131.12 yesterday, the most since January 2010. The dollar dropped 0.4 percent to 99.37 yen after reaching a four-year high of 99.95 yesterday.
The euro has dropped 0.8 percent in the past month, according to Bloomberg Correlation Weighted Indexes. The dollar fell 1.1 percent and the yen lost 4.8 percent.
To contact the reporter on this story: Neal Armstrong in London at narmstrong8@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Dobson at pdobson2@bloomberg.net
