The euro lost some ground against the dollar in a market caution

Forex News

The euro lost some ground against the dollar Thursday, struggling to find direction in a sluggish market and a cautious s & ...

The euro lost some ground against the dollar Thursday, struggling to find direction in a sluggish market and a cautious series of U.S. indicators and always weighed down by the debt crisis in the eurozone.

Around 0930 GMT (11:30 in Paris), the euro bought 1.4380 dollars against 1.4428 dollars at 2100 GMT Wednesday.

The euro fell against the yen stable at 110.16 yen against 110.45 yen yesterday.

The dollar stabilized against the Japanese currency to 76.60 yen against 76.54 yen Wednesday.

The pair euro-dollar hesitated Thursday, traders nervously awaiting the release of indicators of economic activity in the United States for July and August, while the recovery of the world's largest economy in recent weeks shows signs of marked slowdown .

Traders also feared the release of U.S. inflation figures for July, following the announcement of a rise in producer prices in the U.S. in July.

"If the inflation figures are the same way, a revival of measures to support the economy by the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) seems unlikely" in the coming weeks, said Michael Hewson, an analyst at CMC Markets.

Such measures usually take the form of injections of liquidity into the U.S. economy, which also have the effect of diluting the value of the greenback.

For its part, the euro remained under pressure from the debt crisis in the eurozone and its repercussions on financial markets while European stock markets fell sharply Thursday.

Because of the uncertainty that still hangs over the markets of both sides of the Atlantic, investors continued to seek refuge with values ​​considered safe as gold, yen and Swiss franc.

The ounce of gold was changing Thursday and just below the 1,800 dollars short of a record set one week earlier at 1814.95 dollars.

The Japanese authorities are concerned over the continuing high yen, which is considered a safe haven, which weakens the Japanese economic recovery after the earthquake, the tsunami and the nuclear accident in Fukushima.

Indeed, the yen remained near its highest level since World War II against the dollar, recorded March 17 at 76.25 yen to the dollar, and he came close last Thursday (76.31 yen).

For its part, the Swiss National Bank (SNB) decided Wednesday to step up measures to counter the strong Swiss franc, another safe haven, with a third operation in 15 days of injection of liquidity into the financial system.

The federal government has decided to support financially the most affected sectors, such as export industries and tourism.

But analysts at Commerzbank, where Swiss officials "want to fight the high cost of the franc today, they must act more decisively and quickly."

So to many observers, the Swiss franc could continue to be supported as new measures, as a possible temporary stowage of the franc to the euro, will not be.

By 0930 GMT, the Swiss franc lost ground against the euro at 1.1414 Swiss francs, as against the dollar at 0.7938 francs.

The British pound was steady against the euro at 87.19 pence, and retreated against the dollar at 1.6493 dollar.

The ounce of gold was worth 1795.50 dollars against 1790 dollars late Wednesday.