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Euro summit: no high hopes
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September 8, 2000: 8:30 a.m. ET
Finance ministers to discuss weak euro; little action to bolster currency expected
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LONDON (CNNfn) - Euro-zone finance ministers are due to meet later Friday in Versailles, France to discuss the weak euro, which dropped to a new low against the dollar this week, but analysts said they didn't expect any news that could give the beleaguered currency a boost.
The euro was trading at 87.27 U.S. cents ahead of the afternoon meeting, up from the record low of 86.33 cents it touched early Thursday.
 Reuters quoted an unnamed European finance ministry official as saying that the ministers would issue a joint statement reaffirming their belief in a strong euro after the meeting.
Finance ministers from the 11-country currency bloc have repeatedly said the euro is undervalued, the region's economy is robust, and markets will eventually start buying the currency in recognition of these factors.
But such assurances have failed to lift the euro, and analysts said they expected little different from Friday's meeting.
"Markets want to hear some kind of hint that they'll back up these words with action, specifically intervention in foreign exchanges to drive the euro higher," said Mark Cliffe, chief economist at ING Barings in London.
Cliffe and other analysts said the ministers' meeting wasn't likely to give any indication that euro zone governments would intervene.
Robert Prior, European economist at HSBC, said traders were looking more for the dollar to fall than the euro to rise.
"There needs to be something domestically in the United States that calls into question the strong growth story," said Prior. "Otherwise, it's just going carry on."
 Analysts also said any currency market intervention by the Japanese government to keep the yen from strengthening could give a short-term lift to the euro.
The euro bought ¥92.16 midday in London, up from its low of ¥90.90 Thursday.
The Japanese government is concerned about the potential for a strong yen to put a brake on exports, which become more expensive to overseas buyers as the yen appreciates. 
-from staff and wire reports
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