Asian session: The dollar weakened against most of its major counterparts

The dollar weakened against most of its major counterparts as Asian stocks rallied for a second day and European leaders gather for a summit in Brussels to stem the region’s debt crisis. EU leaders meet today and tomorrow for the 19th summit on the region’s debt crisis. They are due to discuss a plan seen playing out over more than a decade for closer European integration. The blueprint, written by European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, centers on common banking supervision and deposit insurance, along with a “criteria-based and phased” move toward joint debt issuance.

The 17-nation euro is poised for its biggest quarterly drop versus the yen since September amid concern the region’s fiscal woes are spreading to bigger economies. Italy will hold a debt auction today following sales in the past two days that saw borrowing costs increase. Italy is scheduled to sell 2.5 billion euros ($3.1 billion) of five-year notes and 3 billion euros of 10-year debt today. The 185-day bills sold yesterday got a rate of 2.957 percent, while the zero-coupon, two-year notes offered on June 26 yielded 4.712 percent. Both were the highest this year. The nation’s 10-year yields climbed to a five-month high of 6.34 percent on June 14, nearing the 7 percent level that spurred Greece, Ireland and Portugal to seek bailouts.

The so-called Aussie headed for its biggest monthly gain versus its U.S. counterpart since January as traders added to bets the Reserve Bank of Australia will keep rates unchanged next week as long as Europe’s debt crisis doesn’t worsen.

EUR / USD: during the Asian session the pair rose above $ 1.2500.

GBP / USD: during the Asian session the pair rose above $ 1.5600.

USD / JPY: during the Asian session the pair fell to yesterday's lows.

The UK house price index from the Nationwide is released at 0600GMT. UK data continues at 0830GMT with the final reading of Q1 GDP data. US data continues with the weekly EIA Natural Gas Storage data at 1430GMT, followed at 1500GMT by Kansas City Fed Production for June. US speakers start at 1530GMT with Cleveland Fed President Sandra Pianalto. At 1600GMT, Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher participates in moderated discussions at the 2012 Aspen Ideas Festival in Aspen, Colorado. Back in the UK, at 1700GMT, Bank of England MPC member Weale makes remarks at Queen Mary University.