The euro struggled for a third straight session on Tuesday, swinging from gains to losses as investors worried about Irish and Portuguese debt and hedged sizeable bets against the US dollar. Heavy Asian and Middle Eastern buying helped lift the euro off a $1.3823 session low, traders said, but it stalled below $1.40 as investors worried that peripheral eurozone countries may struggle in coming months to finance their deficits.
The euro last changed hands at $1.3873, down 0.4 percent. Traders said an earlier slide below the 76.4 percent retracement of a recent rally that peaked last week near $1.43 suggested it could fall as far as $1.3697 in the days ahead. The euro also fell 0.4 percent to 112.44 yen while the dollar lost 0.1 percent to 81.10 yen.