Euro Weakens During Debt Plan Summit; Yen Rises to Record Versus Dollar

The euro fell versus the dollar and yen after reports that talks on bondholder losses of Greek debt were deadlocked added to concern efforts to remedy the European crisis are stalling.

The yen reached a post-World War II high versus the dollar and gained against most of its most-traded counterparts, even as Finance Minister Jun Azumi ordered staffers to be prepared to take action against the currency gains. The 17-nation euro earlier touched the strongest in more than six weeks on news Germany’s lower house of parliament voted to expand the region’s bailout. Canada’s dollar and Mexico’s peso were the best performers against the euro as U.S. durable goods orders were stronger than expected.

“The deadlocked comment isn’t good for markets, but then to counter that you have Germany saying they’ll do whatever it takes, so it’s hard to know what to believe; at the end of the day the safest trade is to be risk averse,” said Blake Jespersen, director of foreign exchange in Toronto at Bank of Montreal. “If you don’t have to be in the markets, then don’t; they are going to be choppy and illiquid for the next three to four days.”

The euro fell 0.5 percent to $1.3840 at 11:33 a.m. in New York. It also weakened 0.5 percent to 105.30 per yen. Japan’s currency was little changed at 76.09 per dollar, after strengthening to a record 75.72.