LONDON, Feb 9 —The euro rose today on speculation that European Union nations could bail out errant member Greece, while global stocks inched higher, lifted by emerging market shares.
Wall Street looked set to open stronger.
Expectations about a rescue for Greece followed news that European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet was leaving a meeting of central bankers in Sydney early to attend a European Union leaders’ summit.
EU officials later clarified that Trichet’s early return to Europe from a trip to Australia had been long-planned, but it nonetheless fuelled speculation of a bail out.
EU leaders will hold a special summit on the economy on Thursday in Brussels amid increasing worries that Greece and other so-called peripheral euro zone economies cannot handle their debts and deficits.
Spreads between German 10-year bonds and Greek and Portuguese equivalents narrowed, although they remained wide at 352 and 156 basis points, respectively.
Concerns about the euro zone’s sovereign debt troubles have battered financial markets this year, even pressuring US banks on Wall Street yesterday.
The euro was up half a percent at US$1.3725 (RM4.71) and 0.9 per cent at 123.02 yen (RM4.70).
“We are seeing a squeeze of some short euro positions which were established at low levels as market speculation of a Greek bailout is seen as positive in the near-term,” said Antje Praefcke, currency strategist at Commerzbank in Frankfurt.
The euro is down more than 4 per cent against the dollar this year and more than 7.5 per cent against the yen, in part because of concerns over debt.
The dollar was off a quarter of a percent against a basket of major currencies.
World stocks as measured by MSCI rose 0.2 per cent, lifted mainly by gains of 1 per cent in their emerging market component. Chinese and Hong Kong shares were generally higher, cheered by higher commodity prices.
In Europe, the FTSEurofirst 300 was flat to higher with year-to-date losses now around 6 per cent.
A number of worries have hammered the market following last year’s large gains.
“Investors are rightly concerned about the timing of the removal of extraordinary loose fiscal and monetary policy. The risk of default has increased and there is an uncertainty over financial regulation,” said Henk Potts, equity strategist at Barclays Wealth.
Earlier, Japan’s Nikkei edged down 0.2 per cent to a two-month closing low.
Toyota Motor Corp, whose shares have lost about a fifth of their value since late January, rose on short-covering with investors welcoming signs it was taking steps to deal with its safety problems.
The automaker announced a recall of the Prius and other hybrid cars for braking problems. — Reuters
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