Euro ends year up on US dollar, pound

Story link: Euro ends year up on US dollar, pound

The US dollar gained on the euro on the last day of the year on Monday, but it still ended the year having lost 10 percent to the shared currency.

At just past noon in New York it took $1.4577 to buy a euro, while the dollar stood at ¥111.8150 to the yen.

The session’s gains for the dollar came on news that existing home sales in the US rose 0.4 percent in November, which was taken as a sign that perhaps the housing slump has finally hit bottom.

The greenback dropped 6.5 percent in relation to the Japanese currency over the year, while it has weakened 20 percent to the Brazilian real and 18 percent to the Canadian dollar since the beginning of the year.

Elsewhere, the pound also ended the year weaker in relation to the euro, dropping 9 percent since the beginning of January, although it managed a gain against the shared currency on this last session of the year as it traded at 73.28p to the euro in mid-afternoon trade in London.

The pound gained on the US dollar, however, adding 2.5 percent on the year.

In other news concerning the euro, Cyprus and Malta both join the euro at midnight on Monday, brining the number of nations using the shared currency to 15.

While only the Greek portion of Cyprus, in the south, will officially adopt the euro, many merchants in the northern, Turkish, portion of the island nation will accept it along with the Turkish lira.

In addition, euro coins on Cyprus will carry both Greek and Turkish lettering.