Market News

The common currency steadied during the Asian trading session, holding onto gains made on Thursday after Mario Draghi, the head of the ECB, vowed that he would do all within his power to preserve the Euro and prevent a Eurozone breakup.

The Euro’s mini rally ended during the Asian trading session, with some of Wednesday’s gains given back, as persistent Spanish doubts continue to pressure the common currency.

European stocks continue to fall while Spanish bond yields continue to rise on the concern of the European debt crisis that will affect global growth.

The Euro eked out some gains against the safe haven currencies as risk appetite was whetted in Asia following news that China’s preliminary PMI manufacturing data for July was better than expected.

In Asian trading, the Euro slipped close to a multi-year and historic lows versus the Japanese Yen and the Australian Dollar as investors’ fears over a Spanish default escalate.

The Euro continues to trend lower as worries over Spain’s finances send investors to the safe haven currencies; as reported at 1:12 p.m. (JST) in Tokyo, the EUR/USD was trading at $1.2269, a drop of 0.1% but holding above the 2-year low struck last week on the EBS trading platform.

The Euro held steady against the U.S. Dollar during the Asian trading session but continues to be under pressure following relatively pessimistic comments made by Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, which rekindled concerns of the debt crisis there.

On Tuesday, Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve Chairman, in an address to the U.S. Senate’s Banking Committee, left markets disappointed with his vague comments that gave no clear indication that additional easing for the struggling U.S. economy would be forthcoming.

The Euro edged higher against the U.S. Dollar in Asian trading today as a spate of hedge fund buying triggered stop-losses.

The Euro steadied against the greenback in Asian trade as short-term focus is directed to Washington, D.C. where Federal Reserve head Ben Bernanke will be testifying before the U.S. Congress tomorrow.

The Euro continued to hold close to a 2-year low against the U.S. Dollar following Italy’s credit rating cut by Moody’s late yesterday.

The U.S. Dollar briefly rose against the Japanese Yen in the Asian trading session, following the Bank of Japan’s announcement that it would make no changes to its current monetary policy except for some minor tweaking to its asset purchase program.

The Euro continued to hold close to a 2-year low versus the U.S. Dollar as investors consider that the German court which is to decide on the legal usage of the Eurozone Stability Mechanism won’t rule in favor of broader implementation.

As analyst had expected and as markets had feared, the E.U. finance ministers meeting yielded no definitive outcome and highlighted only the shortcomings of the most recent summit.

In the Asian session, the Euro had earlier dropped to 2-year trough against the U.S. Dollar, but has since steadied and halted the downtrend.