Market News

The Euro edged higher versus the U.S. Dollar during the Asian trading session as Mario Monti, the Italian Prime Minister, sought to assuage investors’ concerns about Italy’s fiscal outlook.

The common currency Euro was close to striking a 2-week trough versus the U.S. Dollar early during the Asian trading session on the heels of a political crisis which appears to be brewing in Italy.

Markets were disappointed with the outcome of Thursday’s European Central Bank policy meeting and Mario Draghi’s comments afterward and as a result sent the Euro hurtling toward its sharpest drop in a month against the U.S. Dollar.

The Euro edged off a 7-week peak against the U.S. Dollar and a multi-month peak against the Japanese Yen during the Asian trading session as investors take a breather to wait and see what the European Central Bank might next do as the conclusion of today’s policy setting meeting.

The Canadian Dollar edged higher against its neighbor the U.S. Dollar during the Asian trading session after the Canadian central bank announced that it would leave interest rates unchanged but reaffirmed its outlook for tighter monetary policy in the coming months.

The U.S. Dollar edged lower against the Japanese yen during the Asian trading session following economic news from the U.S. which showed that manufacturing activity struck a 3-month low last month, a level unseen in several years.

The Euro earlier gave back gains that had been eked out last week, following the downgrade of the Eurozone’s bailout fund mechanism by Moody’s credit rating agency.

The Euro edged off a 1-month peak against the U.S. Dollar during the Asian trading session after comments from one key Republican policymaker in the U.S. put a dent in the fragile optimism that the U.S. fiscal cliff challenge was to be put to rest.

The Japanese Yen edged lower off the 1-week peak struck overnight in Asia while the Euro steadied on U.S. policymakers’ comments which renewed investors hopes that the fiscal cliff might be avoided.

The Euro gave up recent gains against the U.S. Dollar during the Asian trading session as investors now take the opportunity to reconsider the effects of Greece’s new target debt plan.

The Euro touched briefly on a 1-month peak against the U.S. Dollar during the Asian trading session earlier today on news that international lenders have agreed that Greece will be permitted a new debt target.

Investors are confident that the European Union’s policymakers won’t allow Greece to go default and as a result had pushed the common currency Euro to a 1-month peak against the U.S. Dollar as well as a 7-month high versus the Japanese Yen.

The Japanese Yen edged up against the greenback during the Asian trading session today, finally getting some respite after its sharp 2-week drop on expectations of a new Japanese government’s potentially aggressive monetary easing.

In Asia, the Euro struck a multi-months peak against the Japanese Yen on support that the Greek loan deal might soon be unconditionally approved.

The Japanese Yen slipped to a 7½ month low versus the U.S. Dollar during the Asian trading session today, with a similar fall against the common currency Euro, as investors speculate that an incoming Japanese government will aggressively push for a softer Japanese currency to lift the economy.