Euro Is Near 4-Year Low as Stock Drop Fuels Recovery Concerns

The euro traded within 1 cent of a four-year low against the dollar and near its weakest since November 2001 versus the yen as a slump in global stocks raised concern about the sustainability of the economic recovery.

The euro may extend this month’s 3.1 percent slide versus the greenback before a report likely to show exports from Germany, Europe’s largest economy, fell in April. Australia’s dollar ended two days of losses as a technical gauge showed the currency’s 4 percent drop this month may have been too rapid.

“Continued risk aversion means the yen and dollar will benefit and the risk currencies will be underperformers,” said Imre Speizer, a market strategist in Wellington at Westpac Banking Corp., Australia’s second-largest lender.

The euro traded at $1.1929 as of 8:21 a.m. in Tokyo, from $1.1923 in New York yesterday, when it fell as low as $1.1877, the weakest level since March 2006. Europe’s common currency fetched 109.24 yen after sliding as much as 1.7 percent yesterday to touch 108.08 yen, the lowest since November 2001. The greenback bought 91.58 yen from 91.37 in New York.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index slid 1.4 percent and the MSCI World Index tumbled 1.8 percent yesterday.