The euro held its ground against the dollar and yen in Tokyo Thursday on a German magazine report that said France and the United States were in talks on concerted intervention, dealers said.
The European Central Bank (ECB) convenes Thursday for its regular fortnightly policy-making meeting, but investors are not expecting any rate hike.
Instead, observers are waiting to hear what ECB president Wim Duisenberg will say about the euro's latest troubles at the news conference scheduled after the meeting, with intervention speculation to the fore.
The European currency traded at $0.8569 around 2:00 p.m. (0500 GMT), compared to $0.8593 in New York late Wednesday.
The euro "may not hit fresh lows today given profit-taking (in the dollar) and bids around the 0.8550 region," research house IDEAglobal.com said in Singapore.
Against the yen, the euro traded at 91.84, from 91.99 in New York.
The common European currency dipped slightly against the major currencies after a morning rally.
"A German magazine reported that the European Union president nation, France, is discussing currency intervention with the US, which encouraged investors to buy back the euro," Fuji Bank dealer Hideyuki Tsukamoto said.
The French finance ministry denied the report, to be published in Thursday's edition of the Focus-Money magazine, which said EU finance ministers had agreed to the principle of intervention at a weekend meeting.
"Investors are focusing on a Group of Seven meeting to be held late September, rather than the ECB meeting today," said Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi dealer Yoshitaka Noumi.
"There are concerns as to whether European countries alone can stop the euro's weakness," he said.
"Despite rumours of currency intervention, we have yet to see any."
The dollar was meanwhile quoted at 107.13 yen, up from 107.10 in New York and 106.98 yen in Tokyo late Wednesday.
"European and US investors mainly are selling the yen but there is no particular lead," said Fuji Bank's Tsukamoto.— (AFP)
© Agence France Presse 2000
© 2000 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
