Forexpros – The U.S. dollar was almost unchanged against the yen on Monday, swinging between small gains and losses amid new hopes of progress in tackling the euro zone’s debt crisis after Italy unveiled a series of austerity measures.
USD/JPY hit 78.11 during late Asian trade, the pair’s highest since November 30; the pair subsequently consolidated at 77.95, inching up 0.04%.
The pair was likely to find support at 77.68, the low of December 2 and resistance at 78.27, the high of November 29.
Italy, one of the most severely debt-stricken euro zone countries, unveiled a EUR30 billion package of austerity measures on Sunday, which includes raising taxes and increasing the pension age.
Later Monday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy were to meet in order to outline joint proposals for more coercive budget discipline in the single currency bloc, ahead of Friday’s European Union summit.
An agreement could pave the way for an accelerated implementation of the euro zone’s rescue plan to help debt-ridden countries receive funds while encouraging bondholders to buy euro zone bonds.
Elsewhere, the yen was lower against the euro with EUR/JPY climbing 0.24%, to hit 104.69.
Later in the day, the U.S. Institute of Supply Management was to release a report on service sector activity. The U.S. was also to publish government data on factory orders.
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