By: Barbara Zigah
Just as last week, the common currency Euro struck a 4-month low versus the U.S. Dollar in Asian trading on renewed worries over Eurozone peripheral debt. As reported at 2:41 p.m. (EST) in Sydney, the Euro at one point in the session slipped against the greenback to $1.2860 on the EBS trading platform, before trimming losses and rebounding to $1.2908.
Most market players believe the common currency is still vulnerable, especially as rumors surface that the Portuguese government is being put under pressure to accept the aid package offered by the special purpose E.U./IMF mission. Less than a week ago, the Euro was trading at $1.3435.
The greenback continues to benefit from the Euro’s generalized weakness, with the U.S. Dollar Index, a measure of the greenback’s value versus several major currencies, rising to a 5-week peak at 81.203 .DXY, following last Friday’s release of worse-then-expected non-farms payroll figures. Gains on the Index were later trimmed, and .DXY traded at 81.133, relatively flat from Friday’s late trading in New York.
As regards the payroll data, following the earlier in the week release of encouraging ADP employment numbers, economists upwardly revised the U.S. Labor Department figures, only to be disappointed when they fell far short; on a bright note, the unemployment rate fell to 9.4%, from the previous month’s 9.8%.