Greek euro zone exit unlikely, say money market traders

Reuters – 1 hour 56 minutes ago

• 2
• Email
• Print

BANGALORE (Reuters) - A slim majority of euro zone money market traders surveyed regularly by Reuters reckon Greece will still be in the euro zone at the end of 2013, a poll showed on Monday.

Fourteen of 22 euro money market traders said Greece would not abandon the euro either this year or next - an event once seen as unthinkable but is now being openly discussed as the country battles political and economic upheaval.

A summit of the G8 leading industrialized nations came down solidly in favor of a push to balance European austerity with a new dose of U.S.-style stimulus seen as vital to healing ailing euro zone economies.

The consensus among traders is in-line with a similar poll of economists taken last week, where a slim majority - 35 out of 64, said Greece would still be in the euro zone by the end of next year.

In the regular weekly survey, traders expect the European Central Bank (ECB) to allot 40 billion euros this week in its seven-day operation, a little lower than the 42.99 billion euros maturing from last week's.

(Reporting by Snehasish Das and Ashrith Doddi; writing by Anooja Debnath; Editing by Toby Chopra)