The Euro advanced against the US Dollar, as there was a growing sense of optimism that European leaders were working towards an amiable solution to Greece’s sovereign debt crisis.
The EURO-USD exchange rate increased by 0.6718 percent to 1.4378.
Luxembourg’s Prime Minister, Jean-Claude Juncker, who is also the head of the group of euro finance ministers, said that a total restructuring of Greece’s debt had been ruled out. The EU, the IMF and the ECB are scheduled to complete their review on Greece’s economy in a few days, after which a new set of regulations would be enforced on Greece to follow before any more bailout money can be released to the country. Moreover, Germany has decided not to push for an early rescheduling of Greek bonds in order to gain new loans for itself. There is a growing level of optimism amongst investors that the European crisis will eventually be resolved.
Meanwhile, failure on the part of Democratic and Republican lawmakers to strike a deal for avoiding the $ 14.3 trillion debt ceiling has caused the Dollar Index to fall, thereby contributing to the rise of the Euro.
Inspite of the US Dollar depreciating against major currencies, the USD-JPY exchange rate rose by 0.2888 percent to 81.1730. Moody’s has put Japan’s credit ratings on review for possible downgrading, which resulted in a fall in the Yen.