Lending data helps euro recover against greenback

London

THE euro rose 0.5 per cent against the US dollar on Tuesday, helped by solid data and a change in the mood music from European Central Bank policymakers before Thursday's meeting, beating back market bets on further monetary easing.

Quarterly lending data from the ECB showed eurozone banks had loosened their lending standards more than expected over the last few months despite the recent global market volatility. That lessened the need for the ECB to ramp up its one trillion euro (S$1.6 trillion) asset purchase programme, this week at least.