By Chuck Mikolajczak
NEW YORK, July 20 (Reuters) - The euro climbed to its highest in more than four months against the dollar on Monday on hopes for an imminent agreement on a recovery fund for European Union economies hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The fund is expected to total around 750 billion euros ($857.93 billion), of which 390 billion euros could be offered as grants.
EU Council President Charles Michel said he was confident his new proposal to the 27 leaders, which included 390 billion euros of grants and 360 billion euros of loans, a document showed, could be the basis for a deal many say is critical to dispel doubts about the bloc's very future. [nL5N; Editing by Richard Chang2ER21R]
"It is the main story right now and there are signs of progress and that has been very positive for risk appetite and that is why we are seeing the euro kind of remain near its recent highs," said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda in New York.
Positive news about a potential COVID-19 vaccine from a trio of early trials, including an experimental coronavirus vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University also added to overall market optimism and lifted currencies that thrive in times of heightened risk appetite, such as the Australian and New Zealand dollars.
In afternoon trading, the euro was last up 0.12% at $1.1441, after hitting a more than four-month high of $1.14675 EUR=EBS.
Analysts said the smaller the amount of grants from the EU fund, the more the euro would fall.
The U.S. dollar index USD=fell 0.1% to 95.826after sliding to a six-week low hit earlier in the session.
U.S. President Donald Trump signed off on an effort to seek an additional $1 trillion in coronavirus economic relief, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said on Monday, as Republicans laid out their initial proposal for talks with Democrats.
Still, the U.S. Congress is bracing for a battle on the proposed stimulus bill that could boost safe-haven bids for the dollar.
The dollar rose 0.29% versus the Japanese yen to 107.30 JPY=EBS and was up 0.1% against the Swiss franc to 0.9393 franc CHF=EBS.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars, however, gained against the greenback to US$0.7011 AUD=D3 and US$0.6571 NZD=D3.
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Currency bid prices at 3:02PM (1902 GMT)
Description
RIC
Last
U.S. Close Previous Session
Pct Change
YTD Pct Change
High Bid
Low Bid
Euro/Dollar
EUR=
$1.1439
$1.1426
+0.11%
+2.04%
+1.1467
+1.1403
Dollar/Yen
JPY=
107.3000
106.9900
+0.29%
-1.43%
+107.5200
+107.0200
Euro/Yen
EURJPY=
122.75
122.30
+0.37%
+0.66%
+122.9700
+122.1900
Dollar/Swiss
CHF=
0.9392
0.9384
+0.09%
-2.96%
+0.9410
+0.9374
Sterling/Dollar
GBP=
1.2662
1.2565
+0.77%
-4.50%
+1.2665
+1.2519
Dollar/Canadian
CAD=
1.3534
1.3576
-0.31%
+4.22%
+1.3600
+1.3525
Australian/Dollar
AUD=
0.7011
0.6995
+0.23%
-0.14%
+0.7016
+0.6974
Euro/Swiss
EURCHF=
1.0745
1.0723
+0.21%
-0.99%
+1.0776
+1.0721
Euro/Sterling
EURGBP=
0.9033
0.9088
-0.61%
+6.85%
+0.9138
+0.9032
NZ Dollar/Dollar
NZD=
0.6571
0.6556
+0.23%
-2.45%
+0.6573
+0.6540
Dollar/Norway
NOK=
9.2321
9.2928
-0.65%
+5.17%
+9.3228
+9.2311
Euro/Norway
EURNOK=
10.5622
10.6240
-0.58%
+7.36%
+10.6353
+10.5567
Dollar/Sweden
SEK=
8.9747
9.0334
-0.58%
-3.99%
+9.0640
+8.9734
Euro/Sweden
EURSEK=
10.2683
10.3285
-0.58%
-1.92%
+10.3395
+10.2690
Euro jumps to 4-month highhttps://tmsnrt.rs/3fN2M7r
(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Richard Chang)
((charles.mikolajczak@tr.com; @ChuckMik; Reuters Messaging: charles.mikolajczak.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.