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Summary Euro rose against the dollar as hopes raised that Greece will accept Europe's latest debt deal.
The euro rose against the dollar Thursday after Greece named a new prime minister, raising hopes that the country will accept Europes latest debt deal and fend off bankruptcy.The appointment of Lucas Papademos as Greeces new prime minister came after four days of tense talks between Greek politicians. Worries that Greece would be unable to agree on a new leader sent the euro to a four-week low against the dollar Wednesday.The euro rose to $1.3624 in afternoon trading Thursday from $1.3540 late Wednesday.Papademos will replace outgoing Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, who resigned after announcing last week that he would put Europes latest debt deal to a public vote. The announcement shocked European leaders, and Papandreou later reversed his decision on the vote.Also helping boost the euro Thursday was speculation that the leading economist Mario Monti may replace Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. That talk helped push Italys key borrowing rate below 7 percent Thursday, a day after it spiked above that critical level. Italy, Greece, Portugal and Ireland were forced to get financial lifelines after their rates rose above 7 percent.In other trading Thursday, the British pound rose to $1.5942 from $1.5917 late Wednesday. The dollar fell to 77.63 Japanese yen from 77.85 Japanese yen, to 0.9051 Swiss franc from 0.9097 Swiss franc and to 1.0214 Canadian dollar from 1.0228 Canadian dollar.
