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Jane Foley, senior currency strategist at Rabobank International, said a disappointing payrolls figure could drive the euro back up towards its 200-day average just below $1.31, though she added that a strong rally was unlikely given the ongoing government debt crisis. Over recent days, Europe's debt crisis has taken a backseat to developments in the U.S. economy. Governments in Germany, France and Portugal have managed to push through bond auctions fairly easily. However, underlying worries remain, not least in Portugal, which is widely considered to be the country most at risk in joining Greece and Ireland in seeking a financial bailout. The yields on its ten-year bonds have spiked up above 7 percent towards the levels that forced the previous bailouts. Next week, Portugal is planning to sell more bond, as are Spain and Italy. "As yields creep up, it will be interesting to see what the markets appetite is for fresh issues," said David Buik, markets analyst at BGC Partners. Earlier in Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average edged up slightly
-- about 0.1 percent -- to finish at a fresh eight month high of 10,541.04. Japanese stocks are benefiting from the recent fall in the value of the yen, which has eased the pressures on the country's exporters as they battle for business in the international marketplace.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index lost 0.4 percent to 23,686.63, while South Korea's Kospi gained 0.4 percent to 2,086.20. Benchmark oil for February delivery rose 35 cents to $88.73 a barrel electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract tumbled $1.92, or 2 percent, to settle at $88.38 on Thursday. The sharp drop erased more than two weeks of gains on concerns that supplies will increase in coming weeks as demand for oil and gas remains soft.
[Associated
Press;
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