The euro rose against the yen and the dollar after a report showed an index of European services and manufacturing industries increased more than economists expected, adding to evidence the region’s slump is easing. The yen fell against the Australian and New Zealand dollars after Credit Suisse Group AG, the biggest Swiss bank by market value, reported first-quarter profit that exceeded analysts’ predictions, stoking demand for higher-yielding currencies. “As long as people buy into the idea that not getting worse is a good sign, risk currencies and the euro will be underpinned,” said Paul Robson, a London-based currency strategist at Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc. The euro was at 127.95 yen as of 9:19 a.m. in London, from 127.48 yesterday in New York. The common European currency traded at $1.3024, from $1.3005, after falling as low as $1.2980. Japan’s currency was at 98.28 per dollar, from 98.01. A composite index of services and manufacturing industries was at 40.5 in April, from 38.3 the previous month, according to Markit Economics, which surveys purchasing managers. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey was for an increase to 38.9. French manufacturers’ confidence in April rose for the first time in 13 months, suggesting the slump in manufacturing in the euro area’s third-biggest economy may be easing. An index of sentiment among 4,000 manufacturers rose to 71, from 68 in March, the lowest since the data began in June 1962, Paris-based statistics office Insee said today. Credit Suisse “Signs that the euro-zone’s recession isn’t worsening would probably be supportive of the euro,” said Lee Wai Tuck, a currency strategist at Forecast Pte in Singapore. Credit Suisse said net income was 2 billion Swiss francs ($1.7 billion), twice the median estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News. Earnings compared with a 2.15 billion-franc loss by the Zurich-based bank a year earlier. The yen fell against 15 of the 16 most most-traded currencies as investors funded trades with the Japanese currency amid greater risk appetite. It rose earlier on speculation the U.S. government will uncover more losses at the nation’s banks when it releases results of its so-called stress tests on May 4. “Highly volatile price action is expected before the results of the ongoing stress test are announced,” said Yoshifumi Suzuki, a foreign-exchange dealer at Hachijuni Bank Ltd. in Tokyo. “If concerns about the credit crunch ease, then people may favor such currencies as the Aussie.” Australia’s dollar rose to 69.74 yen, from 69.14 yen yesterday, reversing a loss of as much as 0.7 percent. The New Zealand dollar strengthened to 54.99 yen, from 54.44.

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