Euro under pressure as market watches Greek talks

TOKYO: The euro remained under pressure in Asia on Friday as market players awaited developments in Greece's talks on a
27 Jan, 2012

The single currency fetched $1.3096 and 101.40 yen in Tokyo morning trade, marginally down from $1.3104 and 101.48 in New York late Thursday.

The dollar was at 77.40 yen, almost unchanged from New York.

Market attention was shifting back to ongoing Greek debt talks from Wednesday's interest rate projections by the US Federal Reserve, said Sumino Kamei, senior analyst at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ.

The focus will be on a European Union summit meeting in Brussels on Monday and whether or not any progress will be made by then, she told Dow Jones Newswires.

"With uncertainty over the future of the European sovereign debt crisis, the euro will continue to fall," she said.

Greece resumed talks Thursday with banks and insurers on an elusive deal for a major debt writedown to escape looming default.

Prime Minister Lucas Papademos and Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos met with the private creditors' lead negotiators, Charles Dallara and Jean Lemierre, with the talks due to resume again on Friday.

The private creditors said in a statement that "some progress was realised" in Thursday's discussions.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2012

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