The Swiss franc advanced after central-bank Chairman Philipp Hildebrand quit following currency-trading allegations. New Zealand’s dollar and Brazil’s real were the top performers versus the dollar as commodities rose. The euro gained versus the majority of its most-traded peers after euro-area leaders said they may complete a new budget rulebook by Jan. 30. U.S. retail sales rose last month, data this week may show.
“This meeting was just setting up for the finance-minister meeting later this month,” Mark McCormick, a New York-based currency strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co., said after the talks between Merkel and Sarkozy. “We have a little tug of war between better macro data in the United States and policy developments in the euro zone.”
The shared currency advanced 0.3 percent to $1.2751 at 9:34 a.m. New York time, after earlier falling to $1.2666, its weakest level since Sept. 10, 2010. The euro was little changed at 97.96 yen after dropping earlier to 97.28, the least since December 2000. The dollar fell 0.2 percent to 76.83 yen.
The euro is unlikely to rise over $1.28, McCormack said.
Futures traders increased their bets to a record high that the euro will decline against the dollar. The difference between wagers that the shared currency would fall versus those that it would rise -- so-called net shorts -- surged to 138,909 in the week ended Jan. 3, according to data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
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