Early trade in New York: Euro hits three-week high

02 Jul, 2011

The euro headed for its first weekly rise in four weeks against the US dollar on Friday, but further gains looked limited by doubts Greece's debt crisis was over despite easing fears of an immediate default. The European single currency earlier climbed to a three-week peak above $1.45, helped by an increase in risk appetite. It then retreated as traders squared positions ahead of the long holiday weekend in the United States.
The euro last traded little changed at $1.4508. It had earlier risen as high as $1.4553 on trading platform EBS in a move that pushed through a big options barrier around $1.4550. At current prices, it's up 2.3 percent this week, on pace for its biggest weekly advance since January. The euro hit a one-month high of 1.2325 Swiss francs as investors cut back long positions in the safe-haven Swiss currency. It was last up 0.9 percent at 1.2295.
The dollar climbed 0.8 percent to 0.8466 franc, moving further away from a lifetime low of 0.8276 set on EBS earlier in the week. Traders cited corporate-related demand from Swiss banks as driving the dollar higher. Against the yen, the dollar rose 0.3 percent to 80.79 yen, hitting a session peak of 81.152 on EBS after data showed the pace of growth in US manufacturing picked up for the first time in four months in June.

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