By Cornelius Luca
New York, May 24 (BridgeNews) - The euro was rescued from a fresh six-month low of 84.80 cents to the dollar by profit taking in a move exacerbated by thin market conditions in Europe. While the single currency notched gains on the open, only a break above 87.00 cents would accelerate covering of short positions. However, a sustained rebound of the euro is unsustainable, given the deteriorating fundamentals in the euro zone.
* * * Euro/dollar's bounce benefited the major euro crosses as well, with euro/yen and euro/sterling off new five-month lows of 101.04 and 0.6018, respectively, and euro/Swiss franc off a one-and-a-half-month low of 1.5217.
The euro/yen reversal, in turn, helped dollar/yen trim losses from a two-and-a-half-month low of 118.80.
Sterling/dollar also chipped away at its losses after hitting a six-month low of 1.4118, while dollar/Canada posted minor gains but remained confined to Wednesday's ample range.
The domestic event agenda, which features April single-family home sales and speeches by Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill and Cleveland Fed Bank President Jerry Jordan, is unlikely to generate much trading impetus. The market will be dominated by position squaring.

Current Previous Change Global Global
NY open NY close low high

USD/JPY 119.97 120.12 -0.15 118.80 120.43
EUR/USD 0.8603 0.8570 0.0033 0.8480 0.8613
EUR/JPY 103.20 102.91 0.29 101.04 103.25
GBP/USD 1.4152 1.4197 -0.0045 1.4118 1.4197
USD/CHF 1.7745 1.7790 -0.0045 1.7725 1.7920
USD/CAD 1.5523 1.5502 0.0021 1.5498 1.5527
AUD/USD 0.5149 0.5175 -0.0026 0.5089 0.5170
NZD/USD 0.4189 0.4198 -0.0009 0.4149 0.4209
SP.1 1292.50 2.00 1285.30 1294.40
ND.1 1970.00 12.00 1938.00 1980.00