The euro steadied against the dollar near nine-month lows as investors waited to see whether meetings of European finance ministers would result in further support for Greece.
Worries over the country's indebtedness kept the U.S. dollar supported and weighed on the euro as the market sought perceived safer assets.
"We do not expect a clarification of how Greece is going to be rescued in an emergency," Ulrich Leuchtmann, the head of currency strategy at Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt, wrote in an e- mailed note today. "Uncertainty about this issue is therefore likely to continue putting pressure on the euro this week."
The European Commission said today it was asking Greece to explain reports in the US and German media that it engaged some years ago in derivatives deals with US investment banks to cut its deficit and debt figures.
Greek bonds declined, with the yield on the 10-year note climbing 5 basis points to 6.2 percent.
Greece is the first country in the euro's 11-year history to require an emergency statement of political support from other European countries as it struggles to weather pressure from financial markets worried about its massive debt.
But Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou warned against asking the government, which faces growing public dissent over budget cuts, to do too much too fast.
"We're trying to change the course of the Titanic, it cannot be done in a day," Papaconstantinou said ahead of meeting with euro zone finance ministers in Brussels. "If additional fiscal measures are needed, we will take them. Today it is Greece, tomorrow it can be another country. Any European country can be prey to speculative forces."
Greece faces two major hurdles in the coming months, with two lots of more than 8 billion euros of government bonds to refinance on April and in May. Markets had hoped last week that meetings this week might generate commitments of actual financial aid.
But European Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn suggested that the talks in Brussels, which officials said were not aimed at producing a concrete rescue plan, would focus on demanding more of Greece than it has announced.