LONDON, Dec 31: The euro fell back against the dollar and inched away from parity with sterling on Wednesday, the final trading day of a fitful 2008 for world currency markets.

In late afternoon trade, the European single currency was changing hands for $1.3948 compared to $1.4068 late on Tuesday. The euro also fell back to 0.9561 pence compared to 0.9760 pence on Tuesday. The euro also lost ground to the yen, going down to 126.67 yen compared to 127.00 yen. The dollar rose against the yen to 90.83 yen from 90.27 yen.

The US dollar was bolstered by a fall in weekly unemployment figures in the United States. But the volume of trading was low, with Tokyo closed for the New Year’s holidays and subdued activity on European markets.

“The gold medal currency in 2008 was the yen, posting a total return of 25 per cent versus the dollar and almost 30 per cent against the euro,” said Calyon analyst Stuart Bennett.

“The wooden spoon goes to sterling, which lost 23 per cent against the greenback and 20 per cent versus the single currency.”—AFP