euro

Ministers have been urged by an influential committee to draw up a plan of action to help the country cope in the event of a eurozone collapse.

The euro rose sharply against the dollar as news of the €130bn loan to Greece was announced.

The embattled Greek economy shrunk by 7% in the last quarter of 2011, as fiscal and political crises ravaged the region.

Concerns over a potential hard landing in China, the prospect of renewed turmoil in Iraq and plays on the gold price are among the top ten themes for investors to consider in 2012, according to new research.

A sharp contraction in the eurozone economy and further ECB intervention could put more pressure on the euro this year, said Philip Gibbs, manager of the £711m Jupiter Absolute Return fund.

The euro needs to see a sharp fall of at least 30%, bringing it into line with the US dollar, or else the eurozone is "doomed", Nouriel Roubini has warned.

Billionaire investor George Soros has warned Europe could see a bout of deflation if harsh austerity measures wanted by Germany are implemented.

Ignis Argonaut's Barry Norris believes concerns over a possible euro collapse are overstated, despite S&P's raft of downgrades last Friday putting further pressure on the single currency.

The euro has reached an 11-year low against the yen and has fallen sharply against the US dollar as investors sold the single currency following S&P's mass eurozone downgrades last Friday.

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