Forex - Dollar firms as Greek aid deal collapses

Forexpros - The dollar firmed against most of the world's major currencies on Friday after European officials rejected disbursing a bailout package to Greece, claiming the debt-ridden country must agree to further spending cuts it wants assistance.

In U.S. trading Friday, EUR/USD fell 0.87% to 1.3170.

Greece is seeking EUR130 billion in assistance funding to avoid a messy default in March.

To obtain funds from that package, the country must restructure its debts with private creditors as well as agree to austerity measures from multilateral lenders that include the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

Greek officials agreed and presented their game plan to European officials, who said Athens still failed to meet spending targets and rejected the country's appeal for aid.

Reports emerged that Greece’s version of an austerity plan would leave its debt around 136% of gross domestic product by 2020, which lenders deemed unacceptable.

While Greece still has a few days to come back and meet bailout terms, nerves were seriously on edge Friday.

Members of interim Prime Minister Lucas Papademos's coalition said they were fed up with appeasing to European Union officials with tough austerity and threatened to vote against such measures in Parliament, although the party in question has too little representation to thwart approval.

Still, eroding political support coupled with violent protests rocking the streets of Athens sent investors ditching risky assets and rushing to the greenback to ride out the volatility.

Furthermore, the U.S. trade deficit widened more than expected in December thanks to pricier oil but also due to increased demand for imported cars and other goods from abroad, which further fueled the dollar's gains in the global risk-off session.

Meanwhile, the dollar was up against the pound, with Cable down 0.48% at 1.5740.

The greenback was down 0.11% against the yen, with USD/JPY trading at 77.58, and up against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF rising 0.59% to 0.9172.

The greenback was up against its counterparts in Canada, Australia and New Zealand, with USD/CAD up 0.77% at 1.0023, AUD/USD down 1.10% at 1.0667 and NZD/USD down  0.73% at 0.8279.

The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was up 0.70% at 79.23.

On Sunday, Japanese gross domestic product figures are due out, while Australia will release home loan data.

On Monday, French inflation figures will publish, as will Australian business confidence figures.

Markets will keep an eye on a German bond auction on Monday to gauge how immune Europe's largest economy is to the Greek debt crisis.

Also on Monday, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) House Price Balance will shed light on U.K. housing prices.