FRANCE 24 : “Dollar edges higher in pre-Christmas deals”

The dollar
climbed against the euro on Monday amid stubborn eurozone fears and light
pre-Christmas trade, dealers said. AFP – The dollar climbed against the euro on
Monday amid stubborn eurozone fears and light pre-Christmas trade, dealers
said.

In morning
trading here, the euro eased to 1.3154 dollars from 1.3185 dollars in New York late on Friday.
The dollar fell to 83.80 yen from 83.87 yen on Friday.

“Expect very
light trading conditions, and current themes across the euro, dollar and
sterling will almost certainly continue into the New Year,” said analyst Phil McHugh at CurrenciesDirect in London.

The euro drifted
lower on worries over the eurozone’s public finances after Moody’s slashed
debt-stricken Ireland’s
credit rating, analysts said.

Moody’s Investors
Service on Friday cut its credit rating on Ireland by five notches, citing
uncertainties over the country’s economy and public finances.

It came a day
after European leaders agreed at a Brussels
summit to set up a permanent financial stability mechanism from 2013 to shore
up the euro amid fears Portugal
and Spain
may need bailouts after Irish and Greek rescues.

But there was no
decision to increase its size beyond the bloc’s temporary 750 billion euro fund
or allow it to purchase government bonds, or introduce a common European bond,
analysts noted.

Meanwhile in Paris on Monday, the head
of the European Central Bank Jean-Claude Trichet told EU governments to face up
to their responsibilities and crack down on their budget overspending.

Elsewhere, the
South Korean won rallied against the dollar after a report that North Korea has
agreed to let UN nuclear inspectors back into the country, amid high tensions
on the peninsula.

The won had
fallen in earlier trade after South
Korea ordered civilians on five border
islands to take shelter ahead of a live-fire exercise Monday despite North
Korean threats of deadly retaliation.

But in an
apparent sign of compromise over its nuclear ambitions, North Korea had agreed with US
troubleshooter Bill Richardson to permit the return of UN atomic inspectors to
ease tensions on the peninsula, CNN said.

The safe-haven US dollar later
fell against the won. The greenback fetched 1,161.80 won, down from an earlier
one-month high of 1,172.30.

In London on Monday, the euro changed hands at 1.3154 dollars
against 1.3185 dollars late in New
York on Friday, at 110.23 yen (110.69), 0.8459 pounds
(0.8481) and 1.2721 Swiss francs (1.2782).

The dollar stood
at 83.80 yen (83.94) and 0.9670 Swiss francs (0.9695).

The pound was at
1.5549 dollars (1.5535).

On the London
Bullion Market, the price of gold rose to 1,382.55 dollars an ounce from
1,368.50 dollars late on Friday.