Euro jumps on Greece rescue deal

TOKYO: The euro jumped more than one US cent after news that European finance chiefs had agreed a crucial deal to provide a massive bailout to debt-wracked Greece.

The single currency stood at US$1.3185 immediately before the announcement from Brussels, and rose to US$1.3291 within minutes.

After marathon talks that ran from Monday into the early hours of Tuesday a source said: "We have the essentials of the deal."

The euro also rose to ¥105.75 after the deal, from ¥105.43 in earlier trade.

Officials had been holding crunch talks over providing a bailout worth €130 billion (RM519.7 billion) to Athens, while discussions were also being held with Greece's private-sector bondholders to write down €100 billion worth of debt.

The deal will bring Greek government down to 120.5% of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2020, a eurozone governmental source told AFP.

The figure is just a fraction above the 120% target set by the European Union and International Monetary Fund.