TOKYO: The euro stayed under pressure in Asia on Friday amid investor jitters over the European debt crisis.
The euro bought $1.3326 in Tokyo midday trade, compared with $1.3327 in London late Thursday. Against the Japanese currency it firmed to 103.13 yen from 102.87.
The dollar edged up to 77.35 yen from 77.11 as Japan's finance minister said his ministry has been vigilantly watching for signs of speculative yen-buying movement in the foreign exchange markets.
The euro was on a downward trend as investors took a cue from Moody's downgrade of Hungary's bond rating, said a senior dealer at a major bank.
"You should expect volatile euro trading ahead as there's much speculation going around, but what's for sure is the euro is set to fall in the longer term as the debt woes are just too far from their end," the dealer said.
German, French and Italian leaders pledged Thursday to propose modifications to European Union treaties to further integrate economic policy, but they played down suggestions that the European Central Bank would have a greater crisis-busting role.
In Portugal thousands of workers descended on Lisbon's streets Thursday in an outpouring of anger at a 2012 austerity budget designed to help Portugal tackle its debt crisis.
Japanese Finance Minister Jun Azumi urged European leaders to take more steps to calm market jitters over the eurozone sovereign debt crisis as its impact has been spreading to the rest of the world.
"The present market trends can't be changed" unless Europe shows a clear and concrete picture of how much money each indebted country needs, and under what kind of bailout scheme, Azumi said.
European leaders in late October came up with comprehensive plans to resolve the region's crisis, including the expansion of the size of a rescue fund, or the European Financial stability Fund.
But rising bond yields of relatively high-rated countries have put the effectiveness of the fund into doubt.
The debt crisis "hasn't been confined to the euro zone area, but has also started affecting the United States, Japan and China", Azumi told reporters.
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