The euro opened sharply lower at the start of this week’s trading as the majority of the Greeks voted against the austerity measures demanded by the international creditors. The currency rose during the trading session but remains below the Friday’s closing level.
The overwhelming majority of the Greeks said ‘no’ at the referendum during the weekend, pleasing Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras who was asking them to reject the demands of the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. This outcome does not mean an automatic expulsion of Greece from the eurozone but certainly makes things much more complicated. German Chancellor Angela Merkel will meet with French President Francois Hollande to discuss the future dealings with the indebted country.
Meanwhile, Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis made a surprise move, resigning from his office. Many experts speculate that he did so to make talks between Greece and the foreign creditors easier, appeasing those of them who did not like how the minister was dealing with negotiations.
EUR/USD rallied from 1.0990 to 1.1037 as of 14:04 GMT today but was far below the Friday’s close of 1.1097. EUR/GBP traded at 0.7093 after closing at 0.7121 on Friday and opening at 0.7060 today. EUR/JPY was at about 135.41 — above the Monday’s opening of 133.97 but below the last week’s close of 136.30.
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