The euro was weaker in Asian trade yesterday as investors waited for fresh details on Greece's plans to resolve its debt crisis.The euro fell to 1.3614 dollars in Tokyo afternoon trade from 1.3631 in New York late Monday, and to 122.52 yen from 123.07. The U.S. dollar declined to 89.99 yen from 90.27.
Persistent uncertainty over Greece's debt crisis weighed on European currencies as investors waited for specific measures on tackling the country's public deficit woes, dealers said.
"People just don't feel like buying the euro or sterling," Mamoru Arai, a senior trader at Mizuho Corporate Bank, told Dow Jones Newswires. "The outlook is just weak for both of them."
The market was cautious ahead of talks later yesterday between Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou and U.S. President Barack Obama.
Papandreou arrived in Washington Monday after visits to France and Germany as part of efforts to drum up international backing for his debt-crippled nation, which has adopted new austerity measures to pull out of its crisis.
Investors were also eyeing upcoming events in Asia, including three central bank meetings and Chinese inflation data due this week.
Although the central banks of South Korea, the Philippines and Thailand will probably leave their interest rates unchanged, analysts said they may withdraw some of their stimulus measures as regional growth picks up.
The prospect of eventual interest rate rises in those countries is likely to support their currencies against the lower-yielding dollar and the yen, dealers said.
Japan has kept its interest rates at 0.1 percent since December 2008 and is expected to be one of the last industrialised nations to tighten monetary policy as the country faces deflation and weak domestic demand.
Speculation is mounting that the Bank of Japan will extend its special corporate funding facility when it meets next week.
Against regional Asian currencies, the U.S. dollar rose to 1,134.67 South Korean won from 1,133.20 on Monday, to 1.4008 Singapore dollars from 1.3992 and to 32.73 Thai baht from 32.67.
It also gained to 9,198 Indonesian rupiah from 9,192, but fell to NT$31.85 from NT$31.87 and to 45.75 Philippine pesos from 45.93.
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