Forexpros – The euro slipped to a fresh 10-year low against the yen on Monday and weakened against the U.S. dollar as concerns over the ongoing debt crisis in the euro zone followed the shared currency into the new year.
During European afternoon trade, the euro hit its lowest level against the yen since December 200, shedding 0.22% to hit 99.44.
The single currency was also down against the greenback, with EUR/USD losing 0.21% to hit 1.2927.
Earlier in the day, data showed that manufacturing activity in the euro zone contracted for the fifth consecutive month in December, but indicated a slowdown in the rate of contraction.
The final reading of the Markit euro zone manufacturing purchasing managers’ index for December rose to 46.9 from a 28-month low of 46.4 in November, confirming an earlier preliminary estimate.
The euro remained under pressure amid fears over the risk of sovereign debt downgrades across the shared currency zone, as investors looked ahead to bond auctions by Germany and France later in the week to gauge borrowing conditions in the region.
Elsewhere, the euro held early gains against the broadly weaker pound, with EUR/GBP adding 0.18% to hit 0.8350. The greenback was also higher against sterling, with GBP/USD shedding 0.43% to hit 1.5481.
The greenback remained fractionally higher against the yen and the Swiss franc, with USD/JPY easing up 0.07% to hit 76.94 and USD/CHF inching up 0.05% to trade at 0.9394.
Meanwhile, the greenback was slightly lower against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand counterparts, with USD/CAD slipping 0.18% to hit 1.0197, AUD/USD easing up 0.09% to hit 1.0216 and NZD/USD rising 0.11% to hit 0.7780.
Trading volumes remained thin with financial markets in Asia, the U.K. and the U.S. closed for the New Year holidays.
Forexpros
