Greece’s Finance Minister: the referendum would not be held.
Asian and European trading sessions:
Euro: During the Asian trading session the euro fell by 0.8% from the three-week low against the dollar. Today’s ECB meeting was in focus of the market participants, which was a first meeting for the new president of the central bank Mario Draghi, who replaced Jean-Claude Trichet on November 1.
The European Central Bank unexpectedly lowered the discount rate by 25 basis points to 1.25% level. The EUR/USD pair steeply fell after this report to its daily low at $1.3658 area.
British Pound: The GBP/USD pair grew and reached the $1,6018 area from its today’s lows at $1.5875 level.
Japanese Yen: The USD/JPY pair traded in the narrow range of Y77.88-Y78.09 for another day.
New Zealand Dollar: The New Zealand dollar fell primarily on the reports of a slight increase in unemployment rate for the 3-d quarter and against the backdrop of rising investors’ concerns over the situation in Greece.
Oil: The cost of the December futures on U.S. light crude oil WTI (Light Sweet Crude Oil) rose today to 94.58 dollars per barrel, despite of the weakened prospects for economic growth in the USA and EU.
American trading session:
US Dollar: The U.S. dollar dropped against the major currencies amid growth of stocks and commodities, thereby reducing the demand for safe assets and increasing the risk appetites.
The euro rose against the dollar after the Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou announced that the referendum would not be held and thus reduced investor’s tension over the possible default of his country. Therefore, the EUR/USD pair strengthened to $1.3855 area.