LONDON: The euro rose sharply against the dollar on Friday at the end of a turbulent year for the eurozone and as Estonia prepared to become the latest country to adopt the single currency. The euro jumped to $1.3354 in morning trade here from $1.3286 late in New York Thursday. The dollar dropped to 81.39 yen from 81.55 yen on Thursday. Elsewhere in 2010, the dollar slumped to a 15-year low against the yen as the US economy struggle to recover from the world's worst downturn in decades. In London Friday, the euro changed hands at $1.3354 against $1.3286 late in New York Thursday, at 108.69 yen (108.36), 0.8631 pounds (0.8612) and 1.2514 Swiss francs (1.2423). The dollar stood at 81.39 yen (81.55) and 0.9371 Swiss francs (0.9350). The pound was at $1.5471 (1.5423). The euro has dropped by around seven percent against the dollar in 2010. After beginning strongly – its intra-year high was $1.4579 on Jan. 13 - the single currency plunged to a four-year low of $1.1877 in June. It has since clawed back, aided by strong recovery for Europe's biggest economy Germany. “We haven't seen the capitulation in the single currency that some expected even as the peripheral debt crisis imploded,” said Kathleen Brooks, an analyst at Forex.com trading group. “This reinforces our belief that this remains fundamentally a credit crisis rather than a currency crisis.”
