Azernews.Az

By Bloomberg

The euro tumbled the most in a week against the dollar as data suggested the region’s economic recovery is losing momentum.

Europe’s single currency weakened versus 12 of its 16 major peers after German manufacturing growth unexpectedly slowed in July and a gauge of euro-region factory output and services fell from a four-year high. The euro pared a weekly advance against the dollar as representatives of Greece’s three main official creditors -- the so-called troika -- returned to Athens to start negotiations for a third bailout.

“Greek woes are weighing at the margin, underlining fundamental differentials between the euro area and the U.S. and U.K.,” said Jeremy Stretch, a strategist at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce in London. “Europe is improving overall, probably by more than the market has given it credit for.”

The euro dropped 0.4 percent to $1.0943 as of 10:03 a.m. London time, cutting its weekly gain to 1 percent. It fell 0.2 percent to 70.64 U.K. pence and 0.3 percent to 135.65 yen.

Stretch recommends selling the euro after its recent rally in the run-up to the Federal Reserve meeting to decide U.S. monetary policy next week.

Greece tapped a 7 billion-euro bridge loan this month to avoid defaulting on the European Central Bank. Now, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is racing to complete talks on his country’s next aid package before about 3.2 billion euros more comes due to the ECB on Aug. 20.