Asian session: The dollar strengthened against the majority of its 16 peers

00:30 Australia Westpac Consumer Confidence June 95.3 95.6

The euro snapped an advance from yesterday before auctions of Italian government debt this week and data today forecast to show Europe’s industrial production dropped the most in seven months. Italy is scheduled to sell 6.5 billion euros ($8.1 billion) of 364-day bills today and offer debt maturing in 2015, 2019 and 2020 tomorrow. The yield on the nation’s benchmark 10-year government bond rose to as high as 6.3 percent yesterday, a level unseen since Jan. 25. The European Union’s statistics office will probably say industrial production in the euro area fell 1.2 percent month- on-month in April, the most since September, according to the median estimate of economists in a Bloomberg News survey. The 17-nation currency maintained a two-day slide versus the U.K. pound before Greece holds general elections on June 17 amid concern Europe’s fiscal crisis is spreading.

The dollar strengthened against the majority of its 16 peers after Spain’s borrowing costs jumped to a 15-year high and Fitch Ratings predicted Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy will miss budget-deficit targets, boosting demand for safer assets. Spain’s 10-year yield climbed for a third day to touch 6.83 percent, the highest since 1997, after the nation on June 9 became the fourth euro state to ask for an international bailout, following Greece, Ireland and Portugal.