* Euro leaps more than a cent, short-covering takes it up
* Dollar down across board, DXY pierces 55-day MA
* Leveraged trades get a boost, Aussie and kiwi rally
By Charlotte Cooper
TOKYO, April 12 (Reuters) - The euro leapt to its highest in
nearly a month on Monday, surging 1 percent on the dollar and yen
as investors who had sold it scrambled to buy it back after euro
zone finance ministers agreed a rescue package for Greece.
The euro's rise weighed broadly on the dollar, helping send
the Australian dollar to its highest in five months and the New
Zealand dollar to its strongest since late January, while the
dollar index plunged through its 30- and 55-day moving averages.
Euro zone finance ministers approved a 30 billion euro ($40.5
billion) aid package of loans for Greece if needed, with 10
billion euros also expected from the International Monetary Fund,
a move likely to calm markets in the short term. []
The euro jumped as far as $1.3678 <EUR=> on trading platform
EBS, up from $1.3488 in New York on Friday, before coming back to
test support at its 55-day moving average at $1.3630. The euro,
which hit a 10-month low at $1.3267 in March, is now seen as
having potential to test a mid-March high near $1.3820 this week.
The agreement was likely to help Greece raise funds more
easily but the problem was unlikely to disappear, said Robert
Rennie, chief currency strategist at Westpac, Sydney.
"The way the market is short euro, this could give a leg up
to around the next technical resistance at $1.3820. But can it
sustain a move higher than that? I am not sure. We may see some
selling emerge around there."
Scepticism about how Greece would resolve its debt problems
has seen short positions stack up against the euro this year.
Data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission shows
currency speculators were still heavily short the euro in the
week ended April 6, although they reduced their net short
position to 67,223 contracts from a record 85,326 contracts the
week before. []
Andrew Robinson, FX market strategist at Saxo Bank in
Singapore, said the euro may get squeezed higher again in
European trade.
"Consolidation might take us just below $1.3600 but I see
more upside for the rest of the week," he said.
The single currency rose above 127.00 yen <EURJPY=R> to test
its 100-day moving average at 127.14 yen, although it was still
below a peak seen early in the month at 127.95.
KNOCK-ON
Its gain underpinned broad risk appetite and pushed up
commodity-linked currencies such as the Aussie and the kiwi.
The Aussie <AUD=D4> rose to its highest since mid-November at
$0.9382, before coming back to $0.9340, still up 0.1 percent on
the day, with its November peak of $0.9407 now in market sights.
The kiwi rose to $0.7195 <NZD=D4>, its highest level since
late January, before relinquishing some ground to $0.7165.
The dollar index <.DXY> fell 1 percent to 80.33, breaking
down through an upward trendline in place since early December
and plunging through its 55-day moving average at 80.42.
The CFTC data shows currency speculators trimmed their long
bets on the U.S. dollar in the week to April 6.
The yen, which as a low-yielding currency tends to suffer
when appetite for riskier or higher growth currencies picks up,
stood at 87.06 yen per Aussie <AUDJPY=R>, near a recent 18-month
low. It was unchanged on the dollar at 93.18 yen <JPY=>, holding
above a seven-month low near 95 yen set early this month.
One trader said there was sporadic dollar buying by Japanese
importers but investors were hesitant to buy dollars for yen
because they are wary of the possibility of China revaluing the
yuan. There was talk of dollar loss-cutting sell orders at
92.80-70 yen and then down at 92.50.
Asian currencies, including the yen, are seen as likely to
gain from any move by China to revalue its currency.
Chinese President Hu Jintao visits Washington this week for a
nuclear security summit and is expected to hold a one-on-one
meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday.
The currency market is watching closely for signs of how soon
China might relax its grip on the yuan. The country recorded its
first monthly trade deficit in six years in March, although
economists doubt that will stand in the way of a resumption in
the yuan's rise before long. []
(Additional reporting by Anirban Nag in Sydney and Kaori Kaneko
in Tokyo; Editing by Joseph Radford)
