Asian session: The euro traded 0.1 percent from a six-week high

The euro traded 0.1 percent from a six-week high versus the dollar before European Union finance ministers meet in Brussels today amid optimism the region can find solutions for its debt crisis.

The euro held a three-day gain against the yen after Greece offered to spend as much as 10 billion euros ($13 billion) to buy back government securities and as Spain said it expects funds for bank recapitalization next week. Greece invited holders of bonds to tender their securities in a so-called modified Dutch auction, the Athens-based Public Debt Management Agency said in a statement yesterday on its website. PDMA offered an average maximum purchase price for the bonds maturing from 2023 to 2042 of 34.1 percent. The offer runs to 5 p.m. London time on Dec. 7.

The dollar remained lower as U.S. lawmakers continue negotiations on how to avert the so-called fiscal cliff of spending cuts and tax increases. In the U.S., House Republicans, rejecting President Barack Obama’s demand for higher tax rates, countered with a $2.2 trillion deficit-cutting plan that would trim Medicare and Social Security and cap tax deductions for top earners. The proposal, in a letter yesterday to Obama from House Speaker John Boehner and other Republican leaders, seeks $800 billion in tax revenue in the next decade and would slow the growth in Social Security cost-of-living payments.

Demand for Australia’s currency was limited as swaps trades indicate a 93 percent chance the Reserve Bank will lower the overnight cash-rate target today. Nineteen out of 28 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News expect a 25 basis point cut to 3 percent today.

EUR / USD: during the Asian session, the pair traded in the range of $1.3045-65.

GBP / USD: during the Asian session, the pair traded in the range of $1.6085-00.