Euro slips against US dollar

Published: 24 Apr at 9 AM Tags: Euro, Dollar,

Weaker than anticipated economic data released by Germany has cast doubt on the overall strength of the eurozone’s economy. The threat of an interest rate cut by the European Central Bank has put pressure on the euro, which is currently at 14-day low against the US dollar.

Although better data came out of France, the shrinking private sector in Germany has added to fears that the global economy remains in trouble because of weak factory growth figures coming out of China for April and downtrodden manufacturing data in the US.

Following a three-year high against the yen on 11 April of 131.10, the euro has dropped to 128.36 yen. The Japanese currency is recovering poorly, even though it is commonly sought as a safe haven currency when the global economy appears to be in trouble.

The dollar has lost 0.3 per cent against the yen to end at 98.88 as it continues to try to break the elusive 100 yen mark. Most analysts remain confident that this will happen before long as pressure is kept on the yen by the Bank of Japan’s strict monetary easing policies.

A meeting by the BoJ’s policymakers at the end of the week is likely to shed more light on how efforts to drive down the value of the yen are proceeding.