Euro comes off lows after sliding on Greek vote with EU summit in focus

The euro opened lower across the board on Monday (6 July) in Asia but pared losses by mid-morning with the markets now eyeing the European Union summit to be convened on Tuesday.

However, the euro had strong support near or above the lows on 29 June when Greece's decision to seek a referendum was announced.

Greek people over the weekend voted 'no' to the stringent bailout proposals put forward by the country's international creditors, increasing the likelihood of its exit from the euro currency union.

Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem said on Sunday the outcome was regrettable and added that further talks on the issue would be held Tuesday.

The EUR/USD dropped to 1.0970 from Friday's close of 1.1145 before rebounding to 1.1060. It had fallen to a four-week low of 1.0946 on 29 June and is still keeping a slight uptrend channel that dates back to mid-March.

EUR/JPY plunged to 133.92 Monday from last week's close of 136.55 before bouncing back to 135.60.

Against the pound, euro was at 0.7056, from 0.7135, but jumped later to 0.7103. The cross had fallen to 0.6989 on 29 June, an 8-year low for the single currency.

The euro dropped to as low as 1.0356 against the Swiss franc as this week's trades opened in Asia, compared to Friday's close of 1.0452 but then pared its losses and traded as high as 1.0427 at around 2:50 GMT.

Most major Asian share indices started the week with losses in quick reaction to the Greek decision and euro's slide and dollar's rise that followed.

At 3:00 GMT, Indian shares traded 0.7% down as rupee was down more than 0.2% on the day. Nikkei was down 2% and Hang Seng down more than 3%. Straits Times was down 0.85%.

The Chinese shares bucked the trend, helped by the special policy boost following a big tumble last week.

China suspended initial public offerings and corralled its leading brokerages to establish a RMB120bn fund to support the market. The Shanghai composite index was up 2.16%.