After a very small net gain over the first 30 or so hours of trading this week, well received debt auctions from the peripheral euro area countries of Ireland, Greece and Spain spurred bullish momentum in the euro, driving it almost 90 pips higher.

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Spain had successfully dislodged itself from the group of peripheral euro-area countries with the most punishing bond yields.

ECONOMIST: The euro crisis

Yields rose on peripheral debt with that on the Spanish benchmark rising to a euro area era high while Italian yields breached 6% for the first time since 1997.

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