April 30 (Bloomberg) -- The euro advanced for a third day against the dollar and yen on signs Greece may reach an agreement on budget cuts needed to win a potential $159 billion in financial assistance.
The yen and dollar dropped against most of their major counterparts on revived demand for riskier assets after European Commission President Jose Barroso said he’s confident a rescue will be completed “in days.” The dollar pared its gain versus the yen after a report showed the U.S. economy grew in the first quarter less than economists forecast.
“The Europeans finally decided to get very serious about a Greek bailout deal, and the markets are heaving a sigh of relief,” said Boris Schlossberg, director of research at the online currency trader GFT Forex in New York. “Risk appetite has come back. That’s boosting the euro and hurting the yen.”
The euro climbed 0.7 percent to $1.3323 at 8:40 a.m. in New York, from $1.3233 yesterday. It touched $1.3115 on April 28, the lowest level since April 2009. The currency advanced 1.3 percent to 125.71 yen, from 124.45. The dollar increased 0.4 percent to 94.36 yen, from 94.03.
Gross domestic product increased at a 3.2 percent annual rate after growing at a 5.6 percent pace in the fourth quarter, the Commerce Department reported today in Washington. The median forecast of 85 economists in a Bloomberg News survey was for a 3.3 percent advance.
The 16-nation euro has fallen 1.5 percent against the dollar in April in a fifth monthly decrease, the longest stretch of losses since November 2008.
To contact the reporters on this story: Ben Levisohn in New York at blevisohn@bloomberg.net; Matthew Brown in London at mbrown42@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: April 30, 2010 08:43 EDT
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