Euro slips on Greek turmoil

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.