Euro Falls As Germany Denies Greek Bailout

TORONTO (Dow Jones)--The euro retreated below the $1.38 level Tuesday afternoon after a German government spokesman denied reports that a decision on a bailout package for Greece is close.

The euro had rallied in earlier trading and remains higher versus the greenback, but it has pared some of its gains after the German government issued its clarification to the reports of an aid package to Greece.
The single currency had reached a session high at $1.3840, after FT Deutschland reported that the German government was putting together a rescue package for Greece, citing sources in the German coalition government.

""Everybody was on board to bail out Greece 20 minutes ago and now we're back on euro weakness again," said Jacob Oubina, a currency strategist at Forex.com in Bedminster, N.J.

In early afternoon trading Tuesday, the euro was at $1.3790 from $1.3659 late Monday, according to EBS via CQG. The dollar was at Y89.57 from Y89.30, while the euro was at Y123.55 from Y121.97. The U.K. pound was at $1.5705 from $1.5598. The dollar was at CHF1.0636 from CHF1.0722.
The Dollar Index, which tracks the U.S. currency against a trade-weighted basket of currencies, was 79.775 from 80.350.

-By Don Curren, Dow Jones Newswires; 416-306-2020; don.curren@dowjones.com
(Fabio Alves in New York contributed to this article.)

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 09, 2010 13:10 ET (110 GMT)
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