Dollar firms against euro on Greece jitters

NEW YORK, May 14 (AFP): The dollar rose against the euro yesterday to its highest level in more than a month as investors worried about Greece's sovereign debt crisis ahead of European Union finance meetings next week. The euro was trading at $1.4108 around 2100 GMT, down from $1.422 at the same hour Thursday. Against the Japanese currency, however, the dollar slipped 80.71 yen from 80.95 Thursday. In late New York trade, the pound was trading at $1.6176, down from $1.6290 late Thursday. Against the Swiss currency, the dollar rose to 0.8927 francs from 0.8839. Speculation mounted that Greece will need a bigger bailout from the EU and the International Monetary Fund to avoid default on its debt. "In a general way, there's a lot of talk. The next stages aren't very clear in the eyes of investors, even if most signal they expect some form of debt restructuring," said Charles St Arnaud of Nomura. The EU Commission, the IMF and Germany are calling for Greece to reschedule its massive debt burden, due to the deteriorating situation, the German daily Die Welt says in its Saturday edition. "When you look at the new data, you know the situation has changed," a European Commission source was quoted as saying. The EU Commission spokesman on economic affairs, Amadeu Altafaj, dismissed the report as "absurd information."