Euro stronger after ECB decision

Story link: Euro stronger after ECB decision

The Japanese yen was weaker this week, ahead of different opinions about how it would be treated at the G7 meeting this weekend in Germany. European officials voiced concerns about recent weakness in the Japanese currency and indicated that they hoped to discuss the issue as a major part of the meeting of finance ministers and central bank presidents from the Group of Seven industrialized nations. On the other hand, both the Japanese and the US Treasury secretary said that there was little do discuss, as they were not worried about the state of the yen.

By the end of the week, the yen was 0.5 percent lower versus the US dollar to �121.65 and it had dropped 0.7 percent against the euro, to �158.10.

The euro strengthened against both the greenback and sterling during the week following the decision on Thursday by the European Central Bank to hold interest rates at 3.5 percent, although the Bank�s president sent a clear message that the action was only a pause, not an end to the current series of rate hikes. The shared currency added 0.3 percent to $1.2995 in relation to the dollar while it gained 1.1 percent to �0.6668 against sterling.

Sterling weakened after the Bank of England also held interest rates at their current level. The UK currency was 0.4 percent lower to �237.05 against the yen, while it dropped 0.9 percent to $1.9480 versus the greenback.