* Euro under broad selling pressure, Greece jitters remain
* Euro hits 10-yr low vs Aussie, tumbles vs SEK, NOK
* EU pledge to help Greece short on details, analysts say
(Adds comments, updates throughout; previous TOKYO)
By Naomi Tajitsu
LONDON, Feb 12 (Reuters) - The euro fell broadly on Friday,
staying under pressure after a pledge by the European Union to
help Greece tackle its fiscal problems did little to quell
uncertainty surrounding ballooning Greek sovereign debt.
EU nations on Thursday offered their solidarity and support
to help Athens rein in its deficits, a message that was echoed
by the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank
on Friday. [] []
Still, a lack of details on what will be done to help Greece
kept investors jittery, resulting in widening yield spreads
between benchmark government bonds in Greece and Germany --
widely considered the safest in the euro zone.
That helped push the euro down across the board, striking a
decade low against the higher-yielding Australian dollar
<EURAUD=R> at A$1.5313 and plumbing its lowest level against the
Swedish and Norwegian crowns since autumn 2008.
"The EU's intentions are good, but the market would like
details," said Kasper Kirkegaard, currency analyst at Danske in
Copenhagen.
"Until we get more details on a political solution for
Greece, the euro is going to stay under selling pressure."
Concern over how Athens will service its debt has hammered
the euro -- it is trading near a 8 1/2-month low versus the
dollar, having fallen nearly 10 percent since late 2009.
By 0905 GMT, the euro <EUR=> had fallen half a percent on
the day to a day's low of $1.3609, closing in on $1.3585, its
weakest since May 2009 which it hit earlier this month.
Investors were awaiting euro zone fourth-quarter economic
data due at 1000 GMT after data released earlier on Friday
showed German growth stalled in October-December, while French
growth grew 0.6 percent.
Ongoing uncertainty about Greece kept investors risk-averse
on currencies, boosting the dollar across the board as a safe
haven. Against a currency basket <.DXY>, it rose 0.4 percent to
80.290, hovering near a seven-month high of 80.683 hit earlier
this month.
The Swiss franc bumped lower in early European trade,
pushing the euro <EURCHF=R> more than 50 ticks to a day's high
of 1.4695 francs, while the dollar jumped to 1.0794 francs from
around 1.0750.
The Swiss National Bank declined to comment on the sudden
move in its currency. []
As Greece's fiscal woes continue to hang over the market,
investors await meetings early next week between EU finance
ministers, although analysts said that might still be too early
to expect much clarity on what steps the bloc would take to help
Greece tackle its debt. []
"There will still be a lot of questions hanging around,"
said Gareth Berry, currency analyst at UBS in Singapore.
"The EU have no experience of this type of thing. They are not
the IMF and they will be very careful not to plunge into this
with both feet and not think things through."
(Additional reporting by Tokyo Forex Team; Editing by Susan
Fenton)
