Tokyo - The euro remained under pressure Friday as investors
kept a close eye on political turmoil in debt-hit Greece, with fresh
elections expected despite efforts to form a new coalition government.
The euro was changing hands at $1.2919 and 103.17 yen
in afternoon Tokyo trade, against $1.2939 and 103.47 yen in New York
trade Thursday.
The dollar slipped to 79.82 yen from 79.95 yen.
"The pair (dollar/euro) is supported above 1.2900 now,
but it will be quick when it falls below that," said a dealer at a major
Japanese bank, according to Dow Jones Newswires.
Greece's socialist leader said Thursday he was making
progress towards assembling a coalition government but was still well
shy of the parliamentary majority that has eluded two other parties.
Those efforts follow failures this week by the
first-placed conservative New Democracy party and the runner-up, the
radical leftwing Syriza, which had come out strongly against tough
spending cuts to tame Greece's huge public debt.
Greek voters on Sunday punished the main parties in a
backlash against severe austerity measures in return for
multi-billion-euro international loans to stave off bankruptcy and keep
Greece in the eurozone.
A slightly better-than-expected report on weekly US
jobless claims helped the dollar, while traders also focused on a
neutral speech Thursday by US Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke, who
gave no hint on whether the Fed was looking at more stimulus for the
world's biggest economy.
The dollar gained ground against other Asian currencies.
It rose to 9,260.00 Indonesian rupiah from 9,253.00
rupiah on Thursday, to 31.16 Thai baht from 31.08 baht and to 42.47
Philippine pesos from 42.46 pesos.
It also strengthened to Tw$29.37 from Tw$29.35, to Sg$1.2514 from Sg$1.2500 and to 1,145.70 South Korean won from 1,140.70 won.