Summary The dollar was also weaker at 82.32 yen against 82.40 yen in US trade.
The euro lost ground in Asian trade Monday after hitting a seven-month high on the yen as jittery markets look to a meeting later in the day aimed at finalising a bailout deal for debt-hit Greece.
The single currency bought $1.2953 and 106.67 yen in Tokyo morning trade, from $1.2973 and 106.90 yen in New York on Friday. The euro had climbed to a seven-month high above 107 yen in earlier Asian trade Monday but the unit quickly fell off its perch.
The euro s initial gains were likely stoked by comments from French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici, who on Sunday offered some hope in the long-running saga to reach a deal for Athens.
"I think that in effect we are very close to a solution," Moscovici said Sunday referring to eurozone finance ministers who are meeting later Monday. "I don t know if there will be an agreement tomorrow, I know it is possible and I want one."
The ministers were to meet for their third effort to agree on unlocking a 31.2-billion-euro ($40.5-billion) slice of aid for Greece as it teeters on the verge of bankruptcy. Despite the yen s gains in Monday trade, the currency has been under pressure recently on expectations that the Bank of Japan will unveil a new round of monetary easing next month as recent data point to a worrying slowdown in the world s third-biggest economy.
Also stoking easing speculation were recent comments from the country s main opposition leader Shinzo Abe, who has vowed to pressure the central bank for aggressive policy measures if he is elected as Japan s next premier.
Abe and his Liberal Democratic Party are widely expected to defeat Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and his Democratic Party of Japan at a December 16 general election. The greenback, meanwhile, was mixed as markets look for news of compromise in Washington that will avert the so-called fiscal cliff of spending cuts and tax hikes, seen as likely to send the economy into recession if it comes into effect.
Finding a new spending deal to replace the package, scheduled to come into effect on January 1, has been elusive in the bitterly-divided US Congress.
