Euro falls to 15-month low against the dollar

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Euro falls to 15-month low against the dollar

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Worries about Europe's banking sector pushed the euro to a 15-month low against the dollar.

06 January,2012 02:20 am

European financial stocks fell Thursday as investors realized that banks will have trouble trying to raise new capital. Shares of Italys largest bank, UniCredit, dropped for a second day in a row after it had to offer huge discounts on its stock price Wednesday to attract investors.Spains finance minister said in a newspaper interview Thursday that the countrys banks need to raise an additional $65 billion. Weaker demand at a bond auction in France also disappointed traders.The euro fell as low as $1.2775 early Thursday, its lowest point since September 2010. By Thursday afternoon it was trading slightly higher at $1.2784. The euro was worth $1.2938 late Wednesday.In the US, the Labor Department said applications for unemployment benefits dropped to 372,000 last week. The four week average fell to 373,250, the lowest since June 2008, a sign that the US job market may be slowly improving.The dollar strengthened against most other currencies.The British pound fell to $1.5489 from $1.5612 late Wednesday. The dollar rose to 77.150 Japanese yen from 76.75 Japanese yen, to 0.9526 Swiss franc from 0.9420 Swiss franc and to 1.0186 Canadian dollar from 1.0133 Canadian dollar.The dollar was also higher against the Australian and New Zealand dollars, the Norwegian krone, the South Korean won and the Brazilian real.