Market News

The Euro continues to come under pressure in Asian trading, hovering near to a 16-month trough against the U.S. Dollar, and analysts expect more declines ahead. As the first full trading week of the new year draws to a close, market players worry that there is little relief in sight, with two key bond sales ahead next week.

In Asian trading, the Euro continues to hold close to multi-year lows versus the Australian Dollar and Japanese Yen as Eurozone troubles come back into focus ahead of an auction of French sovereign debt later in the trading day.

In Asian trading, the Euro held overnight gains following the largest single day rally for the common currency in almost two months, driven by whetted risk appetite and short covering.

In Asian trading, the Euro traded higher against the safe haven U.S. Dollar and Japanese Yen, but briefly struck a new low against the Australian Dollar precipitated by some short covering and an underpinning of investors’ risk appetite.

The 10-year anniversary of the Euro came and went on Sunday with very little fanfare, as reasons to celebrate the common currency appear far and few between.

In the year’s final day of trading the Australian and New Zealand Dollars rose against most of their major trading partners, recovering from one-week lows as Asian stocks rallied to increase demand for higher-yielding assets.

In Asian trading today the Euro hit a 10-year low against the Japanese Yen, resulting from stop-loss selling in the EUR/JPY pair. And, although analysts expect the single currency to stay weak in the coming days, there was some happy news coming from the region, specifically from Italy, where the Italian Treasury was able to pay significantly less for borrowing money on a six-month term than it did last month.

The common currency Euro managed to remain above the recently struck 11-month low against the U.S. Dollar, even as traders keep a close watch on the outcome of the upcoming Italian sovereign debt auction.

Asian stocks were lower during Tuesday’s trading as investors expressed concern about the status of the Eurozone debt crisis in the coming quarter and weak holiday sales in the US.

The slow return to trading did little to erase last week’s losses for the US Dollar, as investors anticipate a rise in US consumer confidence to be published in tomorrow’s report. A somewhat strong fourth quarter in the US has eroded the pessimism that had been plaguing consumers, and the subsequent rise in confidence has halted the purchase of the greenback.

In thin trading in the run up to the Christmas holiday, the Euro edged higher against the U.S. Dollar but still on track to close out the year lower as investors worry that the Eurozone’s debt crisis will linger long into the new year.

Following an initial rally on the news that the ECB’s latest offering had been so well received, the euphoria quickly waned as market players understood that the offer was essentially only a liquidity operation, and could not in any way solve the underlying problem of the Eurozone debt crisis.

The common currency extended Tuesday’s gains during Asian trading as investors’ hope builds that the European Central Bank’s most recent offer of longer-term loans could help the Eurozone’s banks with their liquidity problems.

In Asian trading, the Euro remained close to an 11-month trough following comments made by the head of the European Central Bank which dashed any hopes that they would take on a greater role in the resolution of the Eurozone debt crisis.

The U.S. Dollar saw gains in Tokyo trading following the news that the long-serving leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-il, has died, which lent support to the safe-haven currency.