Asian session: The euro remained lower

The euro remained lower following a decline yesterday as the International Monetary Fund cut its growth forecast for the currency bloc and European leaders struggle to contain the region’s debt crisis. The world economy will grow 3.3 percent this year, the slowest pace since the 2009 recession and compared with the July forecast of 3.5 percent, the IMF said. The risk of a serious global slowdown is “alarmingly high,” the fund said.

The shared currency maintained a drop against the yen before data from Italy tomorrow that economists say will show the nation’s industrial production dropped by the most in more than two years. Industrial production in Italy dropped 9.7 percent in August from a year earlier, according to the median estimate of economists in a Bloomberg News survey. That would be the biggest decline since October 2009. Italy is the euro area’s third- largest economy.

Finance ministers from all 27 nations in the European Union will convene in Luxembourg today. Ministers from the euro bloc yesterday declared the 500 billion-euro ($649 billion) European Stability Mechanism operational, while saying that Spain, the permanent rescue fund’s biggest potential near-term customer, isn’t on the verge of tapping it.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel visits Greece today for the first time since the crisis began in 2009.

EUR/USD: during the Asian session, the pair rose to $1.2990.

GBP/USD: during the Asian session, the pair retreated from yesterday's low.

USD/JPY: during the Asian session, the pair rose to Y78.40.