The euro is holding gains it made on the back of successful bond auctions in Spain and Italy and hawkish comments about inflation from the European Central Bank. The 17-nation euro bought $1.3375 in Friday morning European trading _ a little above its level of $1.3350 in New York late Thursday. According to AP, the euro leapt Thursday when relief over successful bond sales was followed by ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet's comments that inflation requires «very close monitoring» _ raising questions about an eventual interest-rate rise. The dollar also was hurt by a report that showed more people filing for unemployment aid in the U.S. In other trading Friday the British pound edged up to $1.5856 from $1.5843 and the dollar slipped to 82.53 Japanese yen from 82.74 yen.
