SINGAPORE: The euro lost ground against the dollar in Asia on Monday as wary traders withdrew their money from Europe after Spain's ratings cut and ahead of elections in key European states, analysts said.

The single currency bought $1.3251 in afternoon trade, down from $1.3258 on Friday. The euro also fell to 106.23 yen from 106.61 yen.

The dollar bought 80.16 yen compared with 80.29 yen on Friday.

Japanese and Chinese markets are closed Monday for a public holiday.

Traders sold the euro after Standard & Poor's cut Spain's credit rating Thursday and slapped it with a negative outlook, warning of recession this year and next, which will make it even harder to meet its deficit-cutting targets.

Adding to the pessimism was news that that unemployment had spiked at 24.44 percent in the first three months of this year, its highest level since 1996.

Eyes are also on the presidential election in France on Sunday as well as polls in Greece, said Justin Harper, market strategist for IG Markets Singapore

"There's still been that backdrop of the Spanish downgrading... I think with the Greek and the French elections, no one wants to put too big a bet on the euro on that," he told AFP.

Therefore, "traders would much rather be buying the US dollar," Harper added.

DBS Group Research said the coming week would be hectic due to the elections as well as other key meetings, including the World Trade Organization, the US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue and the monthly European Central Bank policy-setting decision.

The dollar was lower against Asian currencies, with the unit trading at Tw$29.16 from Tw$29.23 on Friday, at 1,131.87 South Korean won from 1,134.15 won and 30.72 Thai baht from 30.83 baht.

The greenback also bought 42.25 Philippine pesos from 42.44 pesos, 9,180.00 Indonesian rupiah from 9,188.00 rupiah and Sg$1.2369 from Sg$1.2423.