Euro eased slightly against the dollar and yen in Asian trading as concerns over political uncertainty in Greece weighed sentiment. Markets are waiting on the sidelines as Greece works at forming a coalition government. Monday’s attempt by the conservative party failed and today the mandate has been passed to the party that won the second largest amount of votes in the elections on Sunday, which did not result in any one party winning a majority. The IMF/EU bailout package is at risk.
EURUSD opened in Asia at 1.3047 and slid to 1.3024. EURJPY traded between 104.15 and 104.42.
GBPUSD tracked the EURUSD lower and fell from 1.6185 to 1.6168. This is the first day that the UK markets were able to react to the Sunday elections in Europe since markets were closed in London on Monday for a holiday.
USDJPY edged up in Asia, from 79.87 to 80.06. Japanese exporters are not keen to sell dollar/yen at current levels. They are also reluctant to strengthen yen for fear of a Bank of Japan intervention.
AUDUSD climbed to a high of 1.0215 before falling hard to 1.0166 after a weak trade report. The Australian balance on goods and services deficit widened in March, with a deficit of $1.59 billion.
