Euro holds up on relief over Greek bank funding/AFP
TOKYO, Feb 6- The euro held up against the dollar in Asia on Friday after rallying on assurances Greek banks will get emergency funding.
The single currency bought $1.1469 in Tokyo afternoon trade against $1.1475 in New York Thursday afternoon, while edging down to 134.57 yen from 134.89 yen.
“The euro has reversed Thursday’s Asian slump that saw a low of 1.1305 as the (dollar) eases moderately across the board,” National Australia Bank said in a note.
The dollar slipped to 117.33 yen from 117.55 yen in US trade Thursday.
The euro plunged on Wednesday after the European Central Bank said it would no longer allow Greek banks to use government debt as collateral for loans.
However, it said Thursday lenders could still tap its emergency liquidity assistance programme, helping quell fears of an immediate banking crisis.
The access should help protect them against a possible run by depositors while Athens seeks to renegotiate its international bailout with creditors.
National Australia Bank said it was monitoring the Greek situation with a view to sell the euro again.
“But the unfolding line of negatives on the US data front also suggests the (dollar) could take a further step back if tonight’s US employment report disappoints in any way,” it said.
The US is due to release its January non farm payrolls data later in the day and NAB’s consensus forecast is for an increase of 230,000 jobs, following December’s 252,000 increase, with the unemployment staying at 5.6 percent.
The dollar was largely lower against other Asia-Pacific currencies.
It fell to 61.72 Indian rupees from 61.89 rupees on Thursday, to 12,624.40 Indonesian rupiah from 12,630.10 rupiah and to 1,087.30 South Korean won from 1,090.53 won.
It also declined to Tw$31.42 from Tw$31.44, to Sg$1.3451 from Sg$1.3481 and to 32.57 Thai baht from 32.60 baht but rose to 44.17 Philippine pesos from 44.12 pesos.
The Australian dollar gained to 78.27 US cents from 77.82 cents, while the Chinese yuan increased to 18.80 yen from 18.75 yen.
