Tokyo - The euro held up on Friday with investors weighing the impact of a possible Greek default after the latest talks to strike a bailout deal ended in failure.
In Tokyo trading, the 19-nation currency bought $1.1346 against an intraday high of $1.1436 in New York, its highest in a month, a jump driven by incorrect reports that Greece had won a delay in its debt payments.
The meeting in Luxembourg aimed at breaking the five-month-old standoff was the latest failure to reach a compromise and leaves Athens with less than two weeks to unlock billions of euros in bailout funds to service its debts.
With Greece unwilling to agree to some austerity terms and creditors also not backing down, the country could end up defaulting, which could then lead to it leaving the eurozone.
But the euro's relative resilience was likely due to investors feeling a Greek default would have limited impact on markets, said Adrian Mowat, equity strategist at JPMorgan Chase.
“When you look at the situation, and add up the European commercial banks' exposure to Greece, it is tiny relative to their assets,” he told Bloomberg Television.
“You are really talking about a default which the ECB and multilateral agencies will find is an issue.”
In other trading, the euro was at 139.72 yen against 139.78 yen in US trade, while the dollar rose to 123.14 yen from 122.93 yen after the Bank of Japan left its massive stimulus plan unchanged on Friday.
Citing a stronger economy, the BOJ kept a lid on its record 80 trillion yen ($650 billion) annual asset-buying scheme following a two-day policy meeting. The programme is aimed at jacking up prices and kickstarting growth in the world's number three economy.
Traders are now waiting for a regular news briefing from BOJ chief Haruhiko Kuroda, whose comments last week about the weakness of the yen sparked a short-lived surge in the currency. He later backtracked on those comments.
Economists expect a further loosening of monetary policy, likely later this year, to bring Japan closer to its two-percent inflation target, which is a cornerstone of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's drive to conquer years of deflation.
“The bank will have to step up the pace of easing before too long, perhaps as early as October,” Marcel Thieliant from Capital Economics said in a commentary.
The dollar was mixed against other Asia-Pacific currencies.
It slipped to 1,106.94 South Korean won from 1,107.65 won on Thursday, and to 63.79 Indian rupees from 63.88 rupees.
The dollar edged up to 45.06 Philippine pesos from 45.01 pesos, to 13,317.30 Indonesian rupiah from 13,316.00 rupiah and to 33.66 Thai baht from 33.64 baht, while it was unchanged at Sg$1.3356 and Tw$30.78.
The Australian dollar rose to 77.64 US cents from 77.20 cents, while the Chinese yuan was at 19.81 yen against 19.82 yen.
AFP