Euro firmer against dollar

TOKYO: The euro strengthened slightly against the dollar in Asian trade on Monday amid growing relief over Europe's continued bailout for heavily indebted Greece, dealers said.

The euro inched up to $1.4640 in Tokyo morning trade from $1.4638 in New York late Friday. The European single currency rose slightly to 117.55 yen from 117.40 yen. The dollar was flat at 80.25 yen.

The euro held firm after the EU, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank said Friday they have agreed to extend the next tranche of funds under Greece's debt rescue accord package, most likely in July.

That eased worries over a possible breakdown of the 110 billion euro ($160 billion) IMF-European Union bailout programme for Athens, with possibly huge collateral damage for the eurozone at large.

Athens can also expect a new bailout, set to amount to some 60 billion euros, while international backers want greater control over a radical economic overhaul.

The head of the Eurogroup of finance ministers Jean-Claude Juncker said the 17-nation eurozone was likely to agree on fresh aid for the indebted nation but "under strict conditionality".

The European Central Bank is scheduled to hold a policy meeting on Thursday and the market is closely watching remarks from its President Jean-Claude Trichet, dealers said.

"Also positive for the euro is the expectation that Trichet may signal a possible rate hike in July, while the market largely expects no rate hike this month," Kamei said.

The ECB kept its monetary policy unchanged in May after raising rates in April for the first time since July 2008.

Meanwhile, dealers said there was no mood to bid up the dollar in the wake of a disappointing US jobs report.

The US Labor Department reported Friday that a modest 54,000 jobs were generated in May, one-quarter of the rate of the previous three months, and a sign that the economy was growing very slowly. (AFP)