Euro flat amid Italian election uncertainty
Currencies Direct February 26th 2013 - < 1 minute read
Euro foreign currency exchange rates are flat versus the pound
and dollar this morning (February 26th) amid uncertainty
surrounding the Italian election.
The results of the crucial leadership vote have showed no clear
winner, raising the possibility of a political crisis in the
debt-addled nation, which is one of the biggest economic powers of
the eurozone.
In the lower chamber of parliament, the Democratic Party leader
Pier Luigi Bersani and his centre-left coalition scraped a slim
victory over former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi’s centre-right
party, winning by 29.5 per cent to 29.1 per cent, with 99.9 per
cent of ballots counted.
This leaves Italy in a state of limbo with a hung parliament – the
first in the country’s post-war history.
Mr Bersani commented: “It is clear to everyone that this is a very
delicate situation for the country.”
At 08:40 GMT,
the euro had begun to make tentative gains, rising by 0.2 per
cent against the pound to 0.863 GBP and by 0.1 per cent versus the
dollar to 1.308 USD.
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Currencies Direct