The euro remained weak against the dollar in Tokyo Monday as few investors expected the European Central Bank (ECB) to intervene to prop up the weakened single European currency, dealers said.
Around 2:00 p.m. (0500 GMT) the euro was quoted at $0.8534, against $0.8537 in New York Friday. The Tokyo market was closed on Friday due to a public holiday.
In New York late Friday, the euro hit a new historic low of $0.8525.
"The euro remained under pressure due to a lack of clear signs by the ECB to intervene," said Kazumasa Inoue, dealer at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi.
Dealers said comments by Christian Noyer, the vice-president of the ECB, failed to boost the currency.
"The European position is clear: the euro is dangerously undervalued," Noyer told Monday's edition of the French business newspaper Les Echos, adding he believed this view would be confirmed at a Group of Seven (G7) finance ministers' meeting in Prague on September 23.
"There is no lead. His comment had no effect on the market," Dai-ichi kangyo Fuji Trust Bank dealer Kazuhiro Kaneko said.
Research house IDEAGlobal.com. said in Singapore the euro technical indicators pointed to a lower euro.
"Only significant ECB (European Central Bank) intervention would trigger a major short-term upward correction," the research house said.
Against the yen, the euro traded at 91.44 around 2:00 p.m., slightly up from 91.39 in New York Friday afternoon.
Meanwhile, the dollar was traded at 107.13-15 yen, against 107.12 yen in New York late Friday. — (AFP)
© Agence France Presse 2000
© 2000 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
