The euro remained below 84 US cents yesterday but traders were unwilling to risk pushing the single currency lower while a meeting of the Group of 20 nations was in progress, dealers said.

Economist Mr Jeremy Hawkins at Bank of America said the G20 meeting, which opened in Montreal yesterday, allowed the single currency to stabilise as the market waited to see if there would be any reference to intervention in the final communique.

Sterling eased against the euro after comments by Bank of England governor Mr Eddie George that the euro was undervalued and sterling overvalued, dealers said. In Paris, Mr George said the euro was "substantially undervalued in terms of medium-term fundamentals" and that sterling was "on most calculations substantially overvalued against the euro."