Forexpros – The U.S. dollar was almost unchanged against the yen on Monday, after European leaders fell short of unveiling a clear plan to resolve the euro zone’s debt crisis at last week’s two-day summit.
USD/JPY hit 0.9291 during European morning trade, the daily high; the pair subsequently consolidated at 77.65, gaining 0.04%.
The pair was likely to find support at 77.45, the low of November 28 and resistance at 77.78, the high of December 7.
Last week, European leaders agreed to pursue stricter budget rules for the single currency bloc and to provide up to EUR200 billion in loans to the International Monetary Fund to help tackle the region’s financial crisis.
But investors remained concerned as no policies aimed at boosting the region’s ailing economy or any drawn-out plans to implement changes in the euro zone were unveiled at the summit.
Markets were also jittery after Standard &Poor’s placed the credit ratings of 15 euro zone members, including France, Germany, Italy and Spain on negative watch and said it would announce any ratings changes “as soon as possible” after Friday’s meeting.
Earlier Monday, ratings agency Moody’s warned that the debt crisis was still in a “critical” and “volatile” stage, adding that the region still faced increasing risks to cohesion.
Elsewhere, the yen was higher against the euro with EUR/JPY retreating 0.54%, to hit 103.33.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to publish official data on the federal budget balance.