TOKYO: The euro inched higher against major currencies inAsia on Thursday as traders looked to a G20 meeting focused on beefing up the International Monetary Fund's debt-crisis war chest.
The single currency was changing hands at $1.3122 inTokyotrade, up slightly from $1.3120 inNew Yorklate Wednesday. It rose to 106.93 yen from 106.59 yen.
The dollar firmed to 81.48 yen from 81.23 yen.
"The focus now is on whether the G20 meeting of finance ministers and central governors due from later today to tomorrow could agree on expanding the IMF funding, a safety net for the eurozone, to $500.0 billion," said Masafumi Yamamoto, currency strategist at Barclays Capital.
"Amid growing concerns over Spanish (debt) financing, the meeting failing to agree on enough expansion of the safety net would put a selling pressure on the euro," Yamamoto said in a note to clients.
Japanhas pledged $60.0 billion to the IMF, saying it was a critical part of the organisation's bid to boost a global firewall againstEurope's debt crisis.
Sweden,Norway,DenmarkandPolandare among the nations that have since pledged billions of dollars to the effort, but it was unclear what figure would be settled on at the meeting.
Later Thursday,Spainwill hold an auction of 10-year bonds, seen as a key test of market confidence in the country's fiscal management.
Yields on Spanish debt at one point climbed above 6.0 percent earlier this week as fears rose that the country will be forced to seek a bailout.
The yen's decline Wednesday trade came amid expectations for additional monetary easing steps by the Bank of Japan at a policy meeting later this month, Daisuke Karakama, market economist at Mizuho Corporate Bank, told Dow Jones Newswires.
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