By Jim Cote and Cornelius Luca New York, July 20 (BridgeNews) - The euro continued its firm tone but failed to register a new two-month top amid soft euro zone economic data. The Japanese currency lost ground on profit-taking and cautious position-squaring after marking a one-month high of 122.86 yen to the dollar ahead of the G8 summit.
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is expected to promise Friday an all-out effort to revive the Japanese economy when he joins his first Group of Eight summit in Genoa, Italy. Dollar/Swiss franc fell to 1.7178 in early trade but, just like euro/dollar and dollar/Canada, it remained in an inside range.
Both sterling/dollar and dollar/Canada rallied, with the former registering a seven-week high of 1.4349.
Position squaring and profit-taking should be features of the session ahead of the Group of Eight summit which commences in Genoa.

Current Previous Change Global Global
NY open NY close low high

USD/JPY 123.43 123.30 0.13 122.86 123.78
EUR/USD 0.8772 0.8706 0.0066 0.8704 0.8787
EUR/JPY 108.31 107.55 0.76 107.11 108.44
GBP/USD 1.4328 1.4268 0.0060 1.4267 1.4349
USD/CHF 1.7182 1.7285 -0.0103 1.7160 1.7295
USD/CAD 1.5422 1.5406 0.0016 1.5402 1.5429
AUD/USD 0.5094 0.5132 -0.0038 0.5091 0.5145
NZD/USD 0.4112 0.4146 -0.0034 0.4115 0.4147
SP.1 1213.50 -9.40 1211.70 1217.90
ND.1 1682.00 -42.50 1674.50 1702.00