The euro demonstrated no particular bias against the US dollar and the Japanese yen as traders focused on the European Union summit in Latvia. The shared 19-nation currency demonstrated sizable losses against the Great Britain pound.
Market participants were hoping that the meeting of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande in Riga would speed up a resolution of the Greek situation. Hollande said ahead of the summit:
We are not going to negotiate the Greek question in Riga but it’s true that this allows us to prepare for the upcoming deadline, notably the Eurogroup meeting at the end of the month or at the start of June.
He also added:
We want to find solutions with Mr. Tsipras which allow us to instil confidence and to free up the funds that had been foreseen. It will be a friendly discussion, but a discussion where we must sketch out solutions.
The gathering had started very late on Thursday but has ended as of now. The EU leaders made no comments after the meeting has concluded.
As for macroeconomic data, most of Thursday’s reports from the eurozone were rather disappointing, including the shrinking surplus of current account. Yet the economic news from the United States were not encouraging as well, helping the euro to hold ground against the dollar. The currency of the eurozone had not a similar success against the pound, which was very strong after the Bank of England had released its policy minutes.
EUR/USD traded at about 1.1108 as of 23:08 GMT today after rising from 1.1092 to 1.1181 earlier. USD/JPY retreated to 134.45 following the rally from 134.56 to 135.34. At the same time, EUR/GBP dipped from 0.7138 to 0.7093, trading near the lowest level since March 12.
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