Reuters: US Dollar Report: FOREX-Euro down vs dollar and yen; doubts over EU deal

Reuters: US Dollar Report Reuters.com is your source for breaking news, business, financial and investing news, including personal finance and stocks. Reuters is the leading global provider of news, financial information and technology solutions to the world's media, financial institutions, businesses and individuals. // via fulltextrssfeed.com

FOREX-Euro down vs dollar and yen; doubts over EU deal Jul 2nd 2012, 12:33 Mon Jul 2, 2012 8:33am EDT * Euro down vs dollar after surge on Friday * Market players start to question EU summit deal * PMI data confirms euro zone manufacturing slowdown NEW YORK, July 2 (Reuters) - The euro slipped against the dollar o n Monday, after fiscally strong Finland and the Netherlands opposed a plan for the euro zone's permanent bailout fund to buy government bonds in the secondary market. That injected fresh uncertainty over last week's summit deal to tackle the debt crisis in which European leaders decided that rescue funds would be available to stabilize bond markets. That, along with moves towards a common banking union, had triggered the euro's biggest single-day percentage rise in eight months against the dollar on F riday. Even amid those gains however, traders had cautioned the euro was likely to stay under pressure ahead of a European Central Bank meeting this week, when the bank is expected to ease policy. U.S. markets will be closed on Wednesday for the U.S. Independence Day holiday which may also lower liquidity the day before the ECB meeting. But as New York trading begain on Monday investor sentiment was dominated by the Finnish government saying that the rescue fund's bond buying from secondary markets would require unanimity and that seems unlikely because both Finland and the Netherlands are opposed. "The juxtaposition of a holiday-broken week in the U.S. with the amount of economic information we are going to receive this week is making risk taking extremely dangerous," said Brad Bechtel, managing director at Faros Trading in Stamford, Connecticut. "The tape bombs out of Europe that are likely to persist, as always, will make things even worse," Bechtel said. "Already last night we had the Finnish and Dutch on the wires reiterating that ESM bond buying will be decided on a case by case basis, underlying their negative view on bond buying generally." The euro was last trading at $1.2588, down 0.6 percent on the day. The ECB is expected to cut its main refinancing rate by 25 basis points to 0.75 percent o n Thursday, with expectations that the deposit rate it pays banks to park cash overnight may also be cut, to zero. Some players are hoping the ECB will also announce fresh stimulus measures to shore up the faltering euro zone economy. The market will be disappointed if the ECB fails to deliver on those expectations, analysts said. Data on Monday showed euro zone manufacturing suffered in June and jobs were cut at the fastest rate in two-and-a-half years. The single currency fell 0.5 percent against the yen to 100.50 yen. On Friday, the euro posted its biggest one-day rise against the yen since March 2011. T h ere was talk of profit-taking in the euro against the yen by hedge funds, traders said. EUPHORIA FADES The euro surged around 1.8 percent against the dollar on Friday, after leaders agreed to let Europe's rescue fund inject aid directly into stricken banks from next year and intervene on bond markets to support troubled member states. But details were sketchy and questions remained whether, even if authorized by member states to do so, the rescue fund would have enough money to provide a firewall from a debt contagion that could ensnare larger peripheral economies. Many market players said the euro's rally could fade, especially if peripheral bond yields started to climb back toward recent euro-era highs. Italian and Spanish 10-year yields slipped on Monday but their funding costs remain high in historical terms. "The optimism will fade as the week unfolds and if yields in Italy and Spain increase there will be further pressure on euro/dollar," said Lutz Karpowitz, FX strategist at Commerzbank in London. "It (the deal) is just spending more money from donor countries and receiving more money from debt-ridden countries. This will lead to political friction and is not a long-term solution." Growth-linked currencies recovered from data on Sunday showing Chinese factory activity slowed to seven-month lows in June, with the outcome not as bad as feared.. Th e Australian dollar was last up 0.1 percent at US$1.0244, having hit a two-month high earlier in the session. The yen showed little reaction to news that Japanese political heavyweight Ichiro Ozawa and 51 other lawmakers will quit the ruling party over a plan to increase sales tax. The government will still retain its majority in the powerful lower house of parliament and the currency appeared to shrug off concerns over political uncertainty. The dollar was last little changed 79.81 yen, staying below a two-month high of 80.59 yen hit a week ago. Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions