France and Germany on Wednesday told Greece's embattled prime minister that he must ensure a referendum he called on last week's EU bailout plan is held as soon as possible so the rescue plan can be put into action. They warned that if Athens does not stick to the terms of the deal it will not get "one more cent" from the next planned instalment of EU and IMF funds. Hong Kong fell 0.98 percent by the break, Sydney was off 0.27 percent and Seoul lost 1.17 percent. Tokyo was closed for a public holiday. The euro fell to $1.3690 in afternoon Asian trade from $1.3746 in New York late Wednesday. The European currency also fell against the yen, buying 106.84 yen compared with 107.28 yen in New York. Simon Teo, a senior currency dealer at Phillip Futures in Singapore, said Tuesday's referendum call from Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou had only worsened the euro's woes against the greenback. "Definitely, I think it's more on the weakening of the euro that's causing this drop, because we see that Greece actually called for this referendum which is very unexpected," he told AFP. Papandreou stunned his European colleagues Tuesday when he said he would hold a national vote on the rescue package unveiled last Thursday after marathon talks in Brussels. His announcement sent global markets tumbling on fears the Greek public will reject the plan, sending Greece into default and threatening another global financial meltdown. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, meeting the Greek leader ahead of a G20 summit in Cannes, France, said they would withhold Athens' crucial eight billion euro handout if the vote fails. International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde said that the IMF would only decide on the next tranche of Greek aid after the referendum. Papandreou agreed Greece's future in the euro was at stake and said a vote could be called on December 4. He did not reveal the wording of the referendum question, but said he was sure Greek voters wanted to stay in the euro. Attention will be on Cannes over the next few days, with talks expected to focus on Europe's crisis. Despite the ongoing fears about Europe, Shanghai stayed in positive territory on expectations China will soon begin to ease monetary policy after more than a year of tightening as leaders tried to rein in inflation. By the break Shanghai was 0.95 percent higher. On currency markets the the dollar held on to gains it made against the yen this week after the Japanese government intervened to cap its unit's rise. In afternoon trade the greenback bought 78.04 yen compared with 78.06 in New York Wednesday. The dollar jumped past 79 yen on Monday in reaction to the intervention after it hit a post-war record low of 75.32 earlier. The stronger dollar and Europe fears sent oil lower on Thursday. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in December, fell 72 cents to $91.79 per barrel. Brent North Sea crude for December dipped 13 cents to $109.21. At 0415 GMT gold was higher at $1,729.34 an ounce against $1,732.30 late Wednesday.