Eurozone

Talking in an interview for CNBC a global head of foreign exchange strategy at HSBC David Bloom said that the United Sates will have to follow Europe's economic lead and face up to its debt problems instead of just continuing with quantitative easing that will lead to a dollar decline.

"Europe (is) facing up to its problems, looking into the abyss; the U.S. hasn't even started that process. That will take the dollar into trouble in the second half of next year," Bloom said.

Gold advanced on Friday to its strongest in almost three weeks as bargain hunting helped the metal defy a rebound in the euro, waning Europe debt concerns and upbeat U.S. data.

The European Central Bank resisted pressure on Thursday to commit to a major bond-buying programme to contain the euro zone debt crisis, but traders said the ECB had been quietly buying bonds anyway.

Gold prices firmed during Thursday trades close to its highest in nearly three weeks hit the previous session, as worries about euro zone's fiscal crisis lingered despite hopes the European Central Bank and the United States would step in to help.

The European Central Bank is under pressure to unveil new steps to stabilise the euro zone when it meets on Thursday as the currency bloc battles a crippling debt crisis that has stoked contagion fears in the United States and Asia.

Gold shot up to its highest in more than two weeks on Wednesday as growing fears about Portugal's debt pummeled the euro, sending bullion priced in the single currency to a record high.

Standard & Poor's threatened to cut the credit ratings of Portugal, citing uncertainties stemming from the risk of the country having to seek international financial aid -- just after Ireland secured an 85 billion euros bailout package from the European Union.

The US and Japanese currencies rallied across the board during morning trades Asian on the weakening Asian stocks as investors are worried over the eurozone debt.

The yen that fell to a 1-week low of 84.53 against the Swiss franc in early Monday Asian deals reversed direction shortly and reached as high as 84.0 around 11:30 pm ET. The franc-yen pair is currently quoted at 84.04, up 25 pips from Monday's North American close.

Gold remained steady Tuesday as markets were closely watching the progress of the euro zone debt crisis, with a margin hike at CME weighing on sentiment.

Euro zone finance ministers will try to find a way to end Ireland's debt crisis on Tuesday, with Dublin resisting pressure to seek a state bailout by signalling that only its banks may need help.

As worries about Ireland dragged on, the dollar touched a six-week high against the euro.

The euro continued strengthening against the basket of major currencies during its European deals as a report showed that Eurozone's manufacturing PMI recovered from an 8-month low in October.

The euro advanced against the pound in early European deals on Tuesday. The euro-pound pair that closed yesterday's trading at 0.8664 is currently worth 0.8720. On the upside, 0.877 is seen as the next target level for the European currency.

While all economies are suffering from the global financial crisis, some of them start to deal with their problems more quickly that helps them to go through easily. Over the past few weeks we witnessed acceleration within the deterioration in the Eurozone economy to more than offset any concern for the UK economy. While data out of the Eurozone has begun to come in generally weaker than expected data out from the UK (but today’s stronger ZEW is the exception), on the whole, has been improving.