“The euro slid to a three-week low against the dollar after a report showed Europe’s recession deepened more than economists forecast last quarter, sapping demand for the region’s assets.
The 17-nation currency dropped for a third day versus the yen as separate data showed gross domestic product shrank in both Germany and France. The yen rose against most of its major counterparts as Russia’s finance minister said Group-of-20 nations should take a stronger stance against currency manipulation. New Zealand’s dollar climbed to a 17-month high after manufacturing expanded. The euro has still strengthened 4.6 percent against the dollar in the past three months.
“They’re pretty awful figures” in Europe, said Neil Mellor, a foreign-exchange strategist at Bank of New York Mellon Corp. in London. “It could get a lot worse because the euro has risen a long way since the start of the fourth quarter.”
The euro slumped 0.9 percent to $1.3334 at 7:27 a.m. New York time after falling to $1.3315, the lowest level since Jan. 24. The shared currency slid 1 percent to 124.43 yen. The yen strengthened 0.1 percent to 93.21 per dollar.
The currencies of euro-area neighbors also weakened, with the Hungarian forint, Czech koruna and Polish zloty all sliding at least 0.9 percent versus the dollar.
Gross domestic product in euro area fell 0.6 percent from the previous three months, the European Union’s statistics office said. That’s the worst performance since the first quarter of 2009 and exceeded the 0.4 percent median forecast of economists in a Bloomberg News survey.
