Euro heads higher despite impasse in Greek talks

The euro picked up ground on the dollar and other major currencies Tuesday despite the failure to reach a deal on Greece`s bailout restructuring.

New York: The euro picked up ground on the dollar and other major currencies Tuesday despite the failure to reach a deal on Greece`s bailout restructuring.

Traders moved out of safe havens for moderately more risk, sending US Treasury yields sharply higher and also selling down the yen.

The euro gained 0.5 percent on the greenback, 1.0 percent against the Swiss franc and 1.1 percent on the yen.

The gains came well before reports emerged suggesting Greece could possibly compromise on accepting an extension of its eurozone bailout to engineer a more sweeping restructuring with creditors.

Until now Athens has steadfastly refused to extend the existing program, demanding instead a conditions-free bridge loan.

Even so, analysts said traders were throwing off caution.

"Schadenfreude is the only way we can describe the reaction of the euro" after the failure of talks on Monday, said Neil Gilbert at Forex.com.

"While it may be true that Greece has until the end of the month to figure out what they can or will do, the recent rally in the euro across most currencies almost appears to be laughing at the misfortune of the struggling nation."
2200 GMT Tuesday Monday

EUR/USD 1.1413 1.1355

EUR/JPY 136.13 134.53

EUR/CHF 1.0692 1.0582

EUR/GBP 0.7434 0.7391

USD/JPY 119.29 118.48

USD/CHF 0.9368 0.9319

GBP/USD 1.5352 1.5363

Zee News App: Read latest news of India and world, bollywood news, business updates, cricket scores, etc. Download the Zee news app now to keep up with daily breaking news and live news event coverage.