* Solid Spain bond auction lifts euro to 5-mth high versus
yen
* Euro falls against dollar but still close to 1-month peak
* China growth, other data in line with or above forecasts
* Dollar reaches 2-month high versus yen
NEW YORK, Oct 18 (Reuters) – The euro fell against the
dollar on Thursday as uncertainty surrounding the U.S. job
market overshadowed favorable demand at a Spanish bond sale.
The single European currency rose to a 5-month high against
the yen after Spain sold more debt than it planned and its
funding costs fell, causing its bond yields to
fall as views on the country, which hung on to its
investment-grade credit rating earlier this week, improved.
But as the U.S. session opened, data showed the number of
Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose last
week, reversing a sharp decline in the prior week but still
pointing to a labor market that is slowly healing.
“Jobless claims reverted to trend at 388,000, last week’s
large drop was statistical,” said Joseph Trevisani, chief market
strategist at Worldwide Markets, Woodcliff Lake in New Jersey.
“Improvement in the labor market will continue to be fitful and
slow.”
The euro rose to 104.07 yen, its strongest since
early May and remained close to that peak, last trading at
103.92 yen, up 0.3 percent.
Against the dollar, the euro fell 0.1 percent on the day to
$1.3103, though within striking distance of Wednesday’s
one-month peak of $1.3139. Traders reported large option
expiries at $1.3100 which may influence trade, keeping the euro
close to that level.
BAILOUT REQUEST
“The easing of Spanish yields should provide a double boost
to the Iberian economy as it decreases funding costs while at
same time allowing the government to make smaller cuts in fiscal
spending,” said Boris Schlossberg, managing director of foreign
exchange strategy at BK Asset Management in New York.
Some US$3.607 billion in euros changed hands using Reuters
Dealing on Thursday.
Still, investors continue to anticipate that Spain will
request a bailout in the coming weeks, prompting the European
Central Bank to step in and buy its bonds, which would also lift
the euro.
At the same time, euro bids from sovereign investors were
reported at $1.3080 and expected to limit any falls in the
currency.
“We are expecting some more upside in the euro as investors
seem to get comfortable with the timeline about when Spain will
seek a bailout and the ECB’s bond buying will be triggered,”
Beat Siegenthaler, currency strategist at UBS.
“At the same time the global picture is also improving given
the Chinese and the U.S. data.”
A raft of data from China was either in line with or better
than expectations, helping the euro and riskier assets. Growth
in the third quarter was 7.4 percent from a year earlier, in
line with a Reuters poll.
And Wednesday’s strong U.S. housing numbers continued to
help the dollar against the yen with the U.S. currency climbing
to a two-month high against the yen of 79.36 yen.
The Japanese currency has also been under pressure on
expectations the Bank of Japan will announce fresh stimulus.
The higher-yielding Australian dollar hit a
three-week high of $1.0412.
