The euro fell against the dollar yesterday as the European single currency was hit by fresh worries about Greece's debt and fraud charges levelled at US banking giant Goldman Sachs, traders said.
The euro dropped to $1.3448 in London trade from $1.3496 in New York late on Friday.
Against the Japanese currency, the dollar slipped to 91.83 yen from 92.15 yen on Friday.
"Ongoing ructions from Greece and news from the probe into (Goldman's) bank activities have jolted markets back into risk aversion mode," Citi analyst Michael Hart said yesterday.
The interest rate which Greece has to offer to borrow money for 10 years rose to 7.621 per cent on international bond markets yesterday, above a level which Athens has already called untenable.
The rate, or yield on the bonds rose at one point to 7.631 per cent, a record since the eurozone was created, from 7.366 per cent late on Friday.
The latest rate means that Greece has to pay 4.55 percentage points more than eurozone benchmark country Germany to borrow for 10 years, from a difference of 4.28 points on Friday. At the end of last week Greece said that it was doing all the preparatory work needed in the event that it asks the European Union and International Monetary Fund to activate a debt-rescue package.
The package, to make available up to $30 billion from the EU and half as much again from the IMF in the first year, has been agreed in principle.
But a visit to Athens by experts from the EU, the European Central Bank and the IMF to clarify the terms and conditions, and crucially the interest rate which Greece would have to pay, has been delayed until tomorrow because of disruption to air traffic caused by volcanic ash from Iceland.
This has left financial markets in considerable uncertainty over the outlook for management of the Greek debt crisis which has already weakened the euro, caused deep disagreements within the European Union, and undermined the prestige and outlook for the eurozone.
All eyes were also on Goldman Sachs after US regulators last week charged it with fraud.
"Investors want to reduce risks as they do not know how the Goldman Sachs case will develop," said Hideaki Inoue, senior dealer at Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corp.
The case "has brought possible tightening of financial regulation into focus again", he said, adding that market players had earlier opted for risk-taking on the back of signs of a recovering global economy.
US Securities and Exchange Commission last week charged Goldman with fraud over the sale of a type of complex mortgage product blamed for the financial meltdown.
In London trade yesterday the euro was at $1.3448 against $1.3496 on Friday, at 123.45 yen (124.44), £0.8824 (0.8777) and 1.4344 Swiss francs (1.4327).
The dollar stood at 91.83 yen (92.15) and 1.0673 Swiss francs (1.0608).
The pound was at $1.5237 (1.5358).
On the London Bullion Market, the price of gold dropped to $1,125.05 an ounce from $1,151.50 an ounce on Friday.