The euro eased against the dollar on Wednesday, dogged by lingering doubts over whether a eurozone summit this week will quell investors fears of contagion risks from Greece's sovereign debt crisis. The euro had gained a bit of reprieve the previous day after Italian and Spanish 10-year government bond yields came off their recent peaks.
But the single currency remained vulnerable, given uncertainties about the details of a new aid package for Greece to be discussed at a summit of eurozone leaders on Thursday, and concerns over whether the meeting will soothe concerns that the debt crisis may engulf Italy and Spain.
The euro fell 0.1 percent to $1.4135, but still sat well above a four-month low near $1.3838 hit last week.
The euro has support near $1.4120, which roughly coincides with trendline support on hourly charts. It faces resistance near $1.4219, a 76.4 percent retracement of its recent drop to $1.4015 from $1.4282.
Higher up, there is more resistance near $1.4300, right around the 55-day and 100-day moving averages.
The euro held steady versus the Swiss franc at 1.1661, clinging to gains made on Tuesday, when it climbed 1 percent against the Swiss unit, boosted by reports that Germany plans to hit Swiss banks holding deposits from German tax dodgers.
The yen eased initially, both on the crosses and against the dollar, but later came off its lows.
The dollar eased 0.1 percent against the yen to 79.06 yen, having backed off an intraday high near 79.30 yen.
In the fx options market, there are signs that market players are hedging against the risk of a further drop in dollar/yen in the wake of the dollar's fall to a four-month low of 78.45 yen last week on trading platform EBS.
One-month dollar/yen risk reversals now stand near 1.7 percent in favour of dollar puts, compared to a recent low of 0.55 percent hit early last week, showing a rise in demand for dollar puts compared to dollar calls.
But Japanese retail investors have been undeterred, and continued to build up their bets against the yen following the drop in dollar/yen last week.