Premier Minister of Greece: The country is going to meet a default in March 2012.
Asian and European trading sessions:
Euro: During the second part of Asian session the trading dynamics for Euro currency renewed their downtrend. There were fears regarding European debt crisis. Jean-Claude Juncker, head of government of European Union, stated today that the EU is going to fall into recession, and its scale is unknown. Moreover, the Greek Prime Minister, Lukas Papadimos said that Greece will face the risk of unorganized default in March 2012 without getting a new loan aid package of 130 billion euro. According to results of today’s auction, France attracted 7,963 billion euro against the target of 7.0-8.0 billion euro. However, the Euro fell against these results; because of the recorded growth of yield average compared with the yield average of previous editions on government bonds, and also declined coverage. In this regard, ratings agencies might low the top AAA rating of the France. The EUR / USD pair fell below $ 1.290 and found resistance only at $1.2784 level.
US Dollar: The dollar strengthened against major currencies amid increasing demand for safe assets.
British Pound: The GBP / USD pair fell below $ 1.5500 area to its both sessions lows of $1.5492 area. Even, the published report of PMI in the UK service sector, which in December had risen to the level of 54.0 points against the November forecast values of 51,6 , could not stop the pair from sliding down.
Japanese Yen: The USD / JPY pair traded in narrow trade range of the Y76, 68 to Y76, 75.The European session showed an increase of US Dollar in USD / JPY couple and the pair strengthened to Y77.15 area.
American trading session:
US Dollar: After the Agency ADP Employer reported that American companies hired 325 000 workers in December, which was better than expected 178 000, the US dollar strengthened against its competitors.
Canadian Dollar: Against the background of the falling Crude Oil prices the Canadian dollar dropped against the Greenback and recorded its one-week minimum.
Oil: The WTI prices dropped to $101, 34 level after the publication of the report by United States Government, which showed an unexpected increase in Oil inventories.
Gold: Futures price of gold fell to $ 1596.70 at the beginning of the session. By the end of the day the Gold cost $1621.00 per troy ounce.