Forexpros – The euro was lower against the yen on Tuesday, as Standard and Poor’s downgrade warning on 15 euro zone states and on the euro zone’s bailout fund dampened demand for the single currency.

EUR/JPY hit 103.64 during European afternoon trade, the pair’s lowest since November 30; the pair subsequently consolidated at 103.95, shedding 0.32%.

The pair was likely to find support at 103.68, the low of November 28 and resistance at 105.05, the high of December 1.

The ratings agency placed the euro zone’s bailout fund, the European Financial Stability Facility’s long-term AAA ratings on watch, adding that EFSF long-term rating may be cut by 1 or 2 notches on review.

S&P threatened on Monday to downgrade 15 of the 17 euro zone countries, including Germany, France, within 90 days, depending on the outcome of Friday’s European Union summit.

Earlier Tuesday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said European Union leaders will take important decisions to stabilize the euro zone at a summit later this week, brushing off S&P’s warning.

Meanwhile, a report showed that German industrial orders for October posted their strongest rise since March 2010.

Deutsche Bundesbank said factory orders jumped 5.2% after a 4.6% drop the previous month. Analysts had expected German industrial orders to rise 1.0% in October.

The yen was also up against the U.S. dollar with USD/JPY edging down 0.09%, to trade at 77.75.

Also Tuesday, revised data showed that the euro zone’s economy expanded by 0.2% in line with expectations in the third quarter, unchanged from an initial estimate.

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