Euro at One-Week Low Against Dollar as Ministers Discuss Greece

London - The euro traded near a one-week low against the dollar amid speculation a meeting of European government officials today won’t offer solutions to Greece’s deteriorating public finances.

Europe’s currency also slumped to the weakest level since December against the yen before finance ministers from the 16 nations that use the euro meet in Brussels to discuss Greece. The pound rose to a four-month high against the euro as a report showed U.K. home sellers raised asking prices in January. New Zealand’s dollar fell after house prices fell for the first time in six months.

“It’s all about credibility and perceptions, and if there’s a building credibility gap on Greece, the euro will come under pressure,” said Jeremy Stretch, a senior currency strategist at Rabobank International in London. “The Greek finance minister will give a presentation, and the question is whether it will be perceived as credible.”

The euro traded at $1.4383 as of 8:04 a.m. in London from $1.4387 in New York last week, after dropping to $1.4335, the lowest level since Jan. 8. The currency was at 130.82 yen from 130.61 after falling to 130.09, the weakest since Dec. 22. The dollar bought 90.01 yen from 90.77 yen.

New Zealand’s dollar declined to 73.72 U.S. cents from 73.78 cents. The Korean won fell 0.1 percent to 1,124.60 per dollar.

The euro weakened last week after the European Commission said there were “severe irregularities” in data Greece used to calculate its deficit. The currency union “is not liable for member countries’ debt,” European Central Bank Executive Board member Juergen Stark said on German radio on Jan. 15.

U.S. Earnings

Greece’s worsening finances last month prompted Fitch Ratings, Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor’s to cut the country’s creditworthiness, fuelling concern about a debt default. Moody’s said on Jan. 13 the Greek and Portuguese economies may face a “slow death” as they dedicate a higher proportion of their wealth to paying off debt.

Asian currencies declined as regional stocks declined. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average slid 1.2 percent and the MSCI Asia Pacific Index of regional shares fell 0.4 percent.

New Zealand’s dollar weakened after the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand Inc. said house prices fell 0.9 percent in December.

The pound strengthened to less than 88 pence per euro for the first time since Sept. 15, and was at 88.02 pence. It climbed 0.4 percent to $1.6336.

Average asking house prices in England and Wales climbed 0.4 percent from the previous month, Rightmove Plc, the U.K.’s biggest property Web site, said today. From a year earlier, they increased 4.1 percent, leaving them 8.3 percent lower than the peak in May 2008.

The yen fell against 15 of the 16 major currencies after Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa said the central bank will persist with its policy of fighting deflation.

“The central bank is aiming to maintain an extremely accommodative financial environment,” Shirakawa said at a quarterly meeting of regional branch managers in Tokyo. The central bank raised its economic assessment in four of the country’s nine regions.

“With an exit from credit easing still some way off in Japan, people feel most comfortable in selling the yen,” said Yousuke Hosokawa, a senior currency dealer in Tokyo at Chuo Mitsui Trust & Banking Co., a unit of Japan’s seventh-largest bank.