France, Germany plan lifts euro

The single European unit bought $1.3477 in afternoon trade compared with $1.3375 in New York late Friday, while it sat at 103.4336 yen from 103.10 yen.The greenback traded at 76.75 yen from 76.73 yen.The euro fell below $1.34 late Friday after Fitch downgraded the ratings of Italy and Spain, citing increasing pressure on the two countries as efforts to stabilise their public finances are made even more difficult by the eurozone debt crisis.But Emmanuel Ng, currency economist of OCBC Bank in Singapore, told AFP the market is attempting to push the euro higher against the dollar.Ng said the euro rally was led by traders encouraged by a promise from German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Sunday that action would be taken to recapitalise troubled lenders within weeks.