Forex - Euro mixed to higher, focus on Greek bailout

Forexpros - The euro was mixed to higher against its global counterparts on Monday, as concerns over a potential Greek default eased after the country’s parliament voted a series of new austerity measures.

During European late morning trade, the euro was higher against the U.S. dollar, with EUR/USD climbing 0.46% to hit 1.3258.

The euro strengthened after Greece’s parliament approved on Sunday a set of austerity measures, including cuts in private-sector wages, 15,000 public-sector job cuts and EUR3 billion in government-spending cuts this year alone.

However, Greece must still find a further EUR325 million of spending cuts and give binding assurances the plan will be implemented before Wednesday when euro zone finance ministers meet to decide on a new EUR130 billion bailout.

Meanwhile, Germany Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said in an interview with a German newspaper that Greek promises on austerity measures are no longer good enough because so many vows have been broken.

The euro was also higher against the pound, with EUR/GBP rising 0.21% to hit 0.8393.

The single currency was higher against the yen and was almost unchanged against the Swiss franc, with EUR/JPY advancing 0.64% to hit 103.08 and EUR/CHF inching down 0.01% to hit 1.2093.

Official data showed earlier that Switzerland's producer price index was unexpectedly flat in January, after advancing for the first time in eight months in the preceding month, confounding expectations for a 0.2% increase.

Also Monday, preliminary data showed that Japan’s gross domestic product fell more-than-expected in the fourth quarter, ticking down 0.6% after a 1.4% rise the previous quarter.

Analysts had expected Japan’s GDP to fall 0.3% in the fourth quarter.

A separate report showed that Japanese tertiary industry activity rose more-than-expected in December, adding 1.4% after a 0.6% decline the previous month, surpassing expectations for a 0.9% rise.

Elsewhere, the euro continued to struggle close to recent record lows against the Australian and New Zealand dollars, with EUR/AUD shedding 0.30% to hit 1.2328 and EUR/NZD sliding 0.67% to hit 1.5860.

In Australia, official data showed earlier that home loans rose more-than-expected in December, climbing 2.3% after a 1.8% rise the previous month.

Analysts had expected home loans to rise 1.9% in December.

The euro was higher against the Canadian dollar, with EUR/CAD rising 0.22% to hit 1.3245.

Investors were also eyeing a series of debt auctions later in the week by Italy, Spain and France, as the auctions will be considered as a gauge of investor confidence in the euro zone high-yielding sovereign debts.