Greek and Spanish turmoil hits euro

The euro slipped along with world stocks yesterday as deepening turmoil in Greece and Spain kept investors wary of riskier assets, with weak US economic data adding to the cautious mood.

Worries about the health of Spain’s banks also resurfaced after a report that customers at Bankia had withdrawn more than €1bn from their accounts in the past week, though theSpanish government said that there had been no exit of deposits from the lender.

The report followed suggestions that customers of Greek banks were moving funds in anticipation of its exit from the euro, adding to anxiety among investors about the lack of a firm plan to deal with the region’s worsening crisis.