Euro drops as eurozone economy contracts

LONDON: The euro dipped against the dollar on Thursday as official data revealed that the eurozone economy had contracted for the first time since its creation in 1999. In late European deals, the European single currency fell to 1.4855 dollars from 1.4909 late in New York on Wednesday. Against the Japanese currency, the dollar rose to 109.61 yen from 109.57. The eurozone economy suffered negative growth, or contraction, in the second quarter, official data showed on Thursday. Output fell by 0.2 percent in the April-June period as German growth succumbed to global strains. The results, released by the EU's Euro stat data agency, come in the context of rising concern that recession, two successive quarters of negative growth, is now stalking the 15-nation eurozone.