The euro extended losses in Asia as the possibility of delaying Greece’s bailout package is raising uncertainty of how Greece will be able to redeem bonds on March 20, to pay Greek bond holders.
Eurogroup President Jean-Claude Juncker said on Wednesday that Greece has taken the necessary steps for approval of the EUR130 billion bailout but the euro zone finance ministers will take a final decision on the bailout in a meeting on February 20 in Brussels.
EURUSD fell to a three week low of 1.3007 in Asian trading after opening at 1.3065. EURJPY fell to 101.99 from 102.46.
Sterling was affected by damp risk appetite, and weakened against the dollar. GBPUSD opened in Asia at 1.5688 and declined to 1.5660.
The dollar gained against most major currencies in Asia as expectations for more bond purchases by the U.S. Federal Reserve faded after the release of its FOMC minutes from the January meeting. The ICE Dollar Index, which tracks the U.S. dollar against a basket of currencies, was at about 79.857 from 79.655.
USDCHF rose to 0.9279 from 0.9232. USDJPY hovered above 78.35.
The Australian dollar jumped after strong jobs data. Australia added the most workers in 14 months in January and the jobless rate unexpectedly declined, spurring investors to increase bets the central bank will extend an interest-rate pause. 46,300 jobs were added in January, well above forecasts of 10,000, and the unemployment rate dropped to 5.1 percent, against expectations of a rise to 5.3 percent. But the Greece bailout uncertainty weighed on risk sentiment, thereby bringing the aussie back down. AUDUSD rose to 1.0736 after jobs data, then fell to 1.0650.
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