Euro eases on lingering Greek debt woes

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TOKYO: The euro eased against the dollar in Asia on Friday due to lingering concerns over the Greek debt problem even after the EU and the IMF struck an agreement with Athens on implementing an austerity plan.

The European single currency softened to $1.4242 in Tokyo morning trade from $1.4257 in New York late Thursday. It was down to 114.63 yen from 114.72 yen.

The dollar was rangebound at 80.48 yen against 80.52 yen.

Europe pledged Thursday to fix a new bailout for Greece by early July, provided Athens rallies parliamentary support for sweeping new austerity cuts amid mounting global pressure to safeguard EU financial stability.

As negotiators for the EU and the IMF struck agreement with the Greek government on implementing 28 billion euros of cuts and bringing in tens of billions from the sale of state holdings, Athens formally requested financial aid during a two-day summit in Brussels.

Greece has to pass fresh austerity measures next week before the country can gain vital bail-out funds.

The health of the US economy is also colouring sentiment, after the US Federal Reserve gave no indication this week whether it was considering any further easing measures after a second round of asset purchasing, or quantitative easing, ends.

On Wall Street the Dow dropped in the wake of the International Energy Agency's decision to release 60 million barrels of crude from its members countries' strategic reserves, which caused a sharp fall in oil prices.

But the Tokyo stock market moved higher amid optimism over the pace of recovery for Japanese companies following the March earthquake and tsunami. (AFP)