Euro, stocks fall as anti-austerity party wins Greek election

TOKYO - The euro skidded to near an 11-year low and U.S. stock futures fell on Monday as Greece's Syriza party promised to roll back austerity measures after sweeping to victory in a snap election, putting Athens on a collision course with international lenders.

The euro fell to as low as $1.1135 on the vote outcome, not far off an 11-year low of $1.1115 touched on Friday when the common currency took a battering after the European Central Bank unveiled a bond-buying stimulus program last week.

U.S. stock futures fell 0.6 percent while the Nikkei futures also dropped about 0.5 percent from the local close on Friday on heightened concerns the Greek election results could lead to renewed instability in Europe.

Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras was set to become prime minister of the first euro zone government openly opposed to bailout conditions imposed by European Union and International Monetary Fund during the economic crisis.

"The euro will be sold on any rally. But such an outcome was already expected to a certain extent and I expect the pace of its decline is likely to slow," said Osao Iizuka, the head of FX trading at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank.

Indeed, the broad consensus in the markets is that any renewed tensions over Greece is unlikely to hurt broader investor sentiment much beyond an initial shock.

Unlike at the height of the debt crisis in 2011-12, European banks now have limited exposure to Greece and European policymakers have frameworks to deal with indebted countries, analysts say.

"At the moment, the market believes that if there is any (debt) restructuring it would only involve the official sector and for now, the possibility of Greece leaving the euro zone even with the incoming government is small," Sebastien Galy, senior foreign exchange analyst at Societe Generale in New York also said.

The ECB's plan to pump more than a trillion euro to the banking system in the coming year and a half is underpinning risk sentiment, which boosted European share prices to seven-year highs on Friday.

In addition, investors also expect the U.S. Federal Reserve to steer clear of stating any firm date for it plans to raise rates after its two-day policy meeting from Tuesday.

Elsewhere, oil prices also started the week weaker, with U.S. crude futures falling 1.6 percent to $44.87 per barrel, near 5 1-2/year low of $44.20 hit earlier this month.

The death of Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah added to uncertainty over the plans of the world's biggest crude exporter.

source: interaksyon.com

Japan urges Europe to help banks after Greek election

TOKYO — Japan on Monday pressed Greece to swiftly form a new cabinet after pro-bailout parties won a weekend election, and called on European leaders to “urgently” strengthen the region’s financial sector.

Markets breathed a sigh on relief Monday after the conservative New Democracy party won most votes in Sunday’s poll, narrowly beating the anti-bailout Syriza group, easing fears Athens will exit the eurozone.

But Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura, the government’s top spokesman, said Japan wanted Athens and Europe’s leaders to build on the result.

“We will be paying close attention to upcoming negotiations to form a coalition” government, he told reporters in Tokyo.

“We hope that a stable government will be launched early and make progress towards stabilizing markets… We hope that European countries will urgently take measures to strengthen its financial sector,” he added.

Traders have grown increasingly worried about Europe’s lenders after Spain recently accepted a loan worth up to 100 billion euros ($125 billion) to rescue its troubled banking sector.

Speaking after a meeting of G7 finance chiefs in Los Cabos, Mexico, Japanese Finance Minister Jun Azumi said: “Greek political risks have yet to be wiped out, but I believe (Greece) has overcome one, big peak.”

Europe is a major market for Japanese products and Tokyo is a significant buyer of eurozone bonds, with officials saying Japan’s fragile economic recovery was heavily tied to the continent.

Sunday’s result helped alleviate fears of a victory by anti-austerity parties who had threatened to tear up an international bailout package, which was seen as a prelude to Greece exiting the eurozone.

“Countries should cooperate to stabilize market swings and we hope G20 leaders will issue a strong political message at the Los Cabos summit,” the government spokesman said.

source: japantoday.com