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Old 02-07-2012, 08:54 AM   #1
Wavgbtif

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Oct 2005
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Default Euro Holds Decline Before Greek Leaders Meet on Measures to Avoid Default
The euro maintained a decline from yesterday before Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos hammers out details of measures to curb the nation’s debt with the leaders of three political parties.

The 17-nation currency held onto a drop against the yen on concern Greece’s political leaders will fail to reach an agreement allowing the country to receive a second bailout from international creditors. Demand for Australia’s currency was limited amid speculation the Reserve Bank will cut interest rates for a third-straight time at a policy meeting today.

“I have a bearish bias on the euro,” said Imre Speizer, a strategist in Auckland at Westpac Banking Corp., Australia’s second-largest lender. “A lot of boxes still have to be ticked before we have a positive result out of Greece.”

The euro traded at $1.3122 as of 9:29 a.m. in Tokyo from $1.3130 in New York yesterday when it fell 0.2 percent. The common currency was little changed at 100.45 yen after losing 0.3 percent yesterday. The dollar was unchanged at 76.55 yen.

Greece and its international creditors still need to detail 600 million euros ($787 million) of fiscal measures for 2012, a government official said in Athens yesterday. Papademos began a second round of negotiations today with the European Union, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund in Athens on possible spending cuts.

The prime minister will bring the leaders of the three parties supporting him back to the table later today in a bid to forge agreement on terms for a second aid package to prevent the country’s collapse.

Default Scenario
Papademos told them he asked the Finance Ministry “to record accurately and realistically all the consequences of the country’s exit from the euro zone,” Panos Beglitis, spokesman for the socialist Pasok Party, said yesterday in an interview with Radio 9, according to a transcript of his comments e-mailed from Pasok.

The euro has fallen 4.4 percent over the past three months, the worst performance among the 10 developed-nation currencies tracked by Bloomberg Correlation-Weighted Indexes. The yen has advanced 3.1 percent and the dollar has gained 0.9 percent.

In the fourth quarter last year, Japan sold a total of 1.02 trillion yen ($13 billion) against the dollar in markets on the first four days of November in addition to 8.07 trillion-yen sale on Oct. 31, a report from the Ministry of Finance showed today. Japan’s currency climbed to a post-World War II high of 75.35 per dollar on Oct. 31.

“We will take any necessary measures to protect the nation’s interest should speculators clearly distort the market to seek their own interests,” Finance Minister Jun Azumi told reporters before the ministry released the intervention data.

Dollar Losing Allure
The yield spread between two-year Treasuries and similar- maturity Japanese notes was 9.8 basis points, compared with the five-year average of 116 basis points. Yields in the U.S. have fallen since the Federal Reserve pledged last month to keep the benchmark interest rate at a record low at least until late 2014, reducing the appeal of dollar-denominated assets.

“As a result of U.S. monetary easing and the unstable situation in Europe, the yen inevitably comes under appreciation pressure,” said Noriaki Murao, managing director in New York at the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd. “The market is focused on what Japan’s authorities will do when the yen rises beyond 76 per dollar.”

The Reserve Bank of Australia will announce the result of its policy meeting at 2:30 p.m. Sydney time. The central bank may cut the benchmark interest rate to 4 percent from 4.25 percent, according to a Bloomberg News survey of economists.

The Australian dollar was unchanged at $1.0726 after dropping 0.4 percent yesterday.
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