Euro Declines on Concern Banking Weakness in Europe Will Spread

[Enivid]

The euro declined for the first time in seven days against the dollar after Britain’s Telegraph newspaper cited a German banking regulator saying debt levels at the nation’s biggest lenders may increase.

South Korea’s won had the biggest decline of the 16 most- traded currencies versus the dollar on concern North Korea will conduct more nuclear tests after the communist state said yesterday it successfully carried out an underground explosion. The New Zealand dollar dropped, halting a six-day advance, after a government report showed exports declined in April as the global recession damped demand for commodities.

“That report over the German debt situation isn’t helping sentiment toward the euro,” said Adam Carr, a senior economist in Sydney at ICAP Australia Ltd., a part of the world’s largest interbank broker. The comments sound “fairly dire.”

The euro declined to $1.3985 as of 7:05 a.m. in London, from $1.4017 yesterday in New York. It climbed as high as $1.4051 on May 22, the strongest since Jan. 2. The single currency weakened to 132.54 yen from 132.92 yen. The dollar traded at 94.76 yen from 94.83 yen.

From Bloomberg News.