The euro slipped on Tuesday as Spain's treasury minister said high borrowing costs meant credit markets were closing to Spain and investors received little comfort from an emergency conference call of Group of Seven finance chiefs. The dollar climbed to a fresh session high against the yen after Japan's Finance Minister Jun Azumi said a strong yen is damaging Japan's economy.
But it was the G7 call that disappointed investors when a Japanese Ministry of Finance official said there would be no G7 statement to follow the teleconference. The single currency was last down 0.4 percent at $1.2442 after falling to a session low of $1.2409, more than a cent below an earlier one-week high. On Friday, it had hit a two-year low of $1.2286, using Reuters data. Against sterling, the euro fell 0.3 percent to 81.00 pence, off an earlier one-month high of 81.41 pence.
The Australian dollar was little changed at $0.9723, as the rate cut was less than the 50 basis points some had expected. The dollar was up 0.3 percent at 78.57 yen, almost a full yen from Friday's 3-1/2-month low of 77.65 yen, using Reuters data. Investors were still wary however, about the possibility of Japanese authorities stepping in to stem the yen's rise.