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By Bloomberg

The euro climbed for the first time in three days against the dollar amid speculation a victory by the anti- austerity Syriza party in Greek elections won’t push the nation to exit the currency bloc.

The shared currency earlier touched an 11-year low versus the dollar after Syriza, whose leader has pledged to renegotiate Greece’s international bailout, won 149 out of a possible 300 seats in Parliament in weekend elections. It had tumbled last week after the European Central Bank announced plans to pump 1.1 trillion euros ($1.2 trillion) into the economy to revive inflation. China’s yuan declined for a second day versus the dollar.

“We saw the euro selling off initially, but now we’ve had a bit of a bounce,’ said Jeremy Stretch, head of foreign- exchange strategy at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce in London. ‘‘We’ve moved such a long distance over a short period of time that maybe some people think it’s time to lighten positions. We had a fairly strong assumption of who was going to win the election so the next part is the key issue,” he said, referring to Syriza’s negotiations with Greece’s creditors.

The euro climbed 0.3 percent to $1.1239 at 8:47 a.m. in London after sliding to $1.1098, the weakest level since September 2003. The common currency advanced 0.7 percent to 132.92 yen after weakening to 130.15, the lowest since September 2013. The yen slipped 0.5 percent to 118.33 per dollar.

‘Volatility Back’

“What we do think this outcome brings is once again volatility back to the fore,” Ben Pedley, head of investment strategy for Asia at HSBC Private Bank in Hong Kong, said in an interview with Bloomberg’s “On The Move” with Rishaad Salamat. “We think a Greek exit is a very, very low probability or possibility.”

The euro has tumbled 5 percent this year, the worst performer of 10 developed-nation currencies tracked by Bloomberg Correlation-Weighted Indexes, after the ECB last week announced that it would start buying public and private debt in March. The yen rose 4.7 percent and the dollar gained 3.1 percent.

Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras, who is two seats shy of the 151 needed for an absolute majority in Greece’s legislative chamber according to the latest results from the Interior Ministry, said his priority “will be for Greece and its people to regain their lost dignity.” The era of bowing to international demands for budget cuts was over, he said.

Fragile Coalition

Even in a fragile coalition, the result hands Tsipras a mandate to confront Greece’s austerity program, imposed in return for pledges of 240 billion euros in aid since May 2010. The challenge now for him is to make good on election pledges including a writedown of Greek debt, while persuading creditors in Berlin and Brussels to keep aid flowing.

“There’s still a lot of uncertainty, but you would presume that there will be some kind of compromise worked out between Greece and the EU eventually, but it’s going to take time,” said Greg Gibbs, head of Asia-Pacific markets strategy at Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc in Singapore. “It’s apt to be a little volatile in both upward and downward directions for the euro right now, as the market tries to find its feet.”

The yuan dropped to the weakest versus the dollar since June, after central bank Deputy Governor Pan Gongsheng said last week the ECB’s bond-buying program added pressure for the currency to depreciate.

The yuan slid 0.4 percent to 6.2542 per dollar, and touched 6.2569 per dollar, its weakest since June.