Updated on
Summary The euro eased against other major currencies in Asian trade on Wednesday.
The euro eased against other major currencies in Asian trade as traders await eurozone economic data later in the day, after Spanish borrowing rates soared to record highs.The euro bought $1.2482 and 99.34 yen in Tokyo morning trade, down from $1.2502 and 99.44 yen in New York late Tuesday.The dollar edged up to 79.63 yen from 79.52 yen in New York.Sumino Kamei, senior analyst at the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, said the euro could take a further hit if eurozone industrial production data for April comes in weaker than expected.But she told Dow Jones Newswires: Even if figures are better than market forecasts, we believe it wont help improve the euros weak trend.On Tuesday, Spains benchmark 10-year government bond yield spiked to 6.834 percent, the highest since the creation of the euro, before easing to 6.716 percent -- which is still regarded as unsustainable over the longer term.Yields on 10-year Italian government bonds also jumped over persistent questions about Romes ability to tackle its massive fiscal problems.Markets have turned increasingly doubtful over a 100 billion euros ($125 billion) bailout plan to rescue Spains troubled banking sector, while Fitch Ratings on Tuesday downgraded 18 more Spanish banks a day after cutting its ratings on the nations two biggest lenders.There are also fears about Greek elections on Sunday with economists fearing the debt-wracked country will exit the eurozone if anti-austerity parties win.The head of Greeces radical leftist Syriza party, seen as a front-runner in Sundays election, insisted Tuesday that the countrys international rescue deal would be history if he is victorious.Syriza, which catapulted to second place behind the conservative New Democracy party at an inconclusive election last month, could win up to a third of the vote, according to opinion polls.But neither party is expected to win an outright majority, and will need allies in order to form a government.
