You may think of the euro as the currency of a debt-ravaged region that has barely emerged from recession.

But you can also think of it as the strongest major currency in the world this year, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The euro has gained 3.9 percent against the dollar so far in 2013, trading at $1.3701 late Friday after hitting a five-week high.

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The euro has benefited from the fact that the European Central Bank's easing program is less aggressive than the Federal Reserve's, The Journal reports.

"The euro is one of the more misunderstood currencies out there," Robert Tipp, chief investment strategist at Prudential Fixed Income, told the newspaper.

"It looks like a huge economic area with torpid growth, but in fact, it has the underpinnings of a really strong currency."

Asset managers have liquidated all of the bearish euro positions they established last year, according to client data from UBS, The Journal reports.

To be sure, many investors see no great love for the euro given the region's economic problems.

"The euro is a hated currency, but it won't go down," Luca Avellini, a partner at JCI Capital, told The Journal.

And many experts think the euro's strength won't last.

A Reuters poll of 60 currency strategists produced a median forecast for the euro to drop to $1.27 a year from now. The strategists expect the ECB to maintain its accommodative monetary policy while the Fed tapers its quantitative easing.

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