Euro eases

TOKYO: The euro lost ground against the dollar and the yen in Asian trade Friday as hopes for a Greek debt deal began to recede.
Greece´s emergency negotiations with its creditors ended abruptly Thursday, pushing the crisis toward a critical weekend meeting in a bid to avoid a default by Athens and its potential exit from the Eurozone.
Talks will resume on Saturday, just days before the June 30 deadline for cash-strapped Greece to make a 1.5 billion euro payment to the IMF and the day its huge EU bailout will expire.
Without a deal with its creditors — the EU, ECB and IMF — to unlock the remaining 7.2 billion euros of Greece´s bailout, the country risks crashing out of the single currency and even the EU.
The news rattled the single currency, which fetched $1.1184 and 137.89 yen in afternoon Tokyo, down from $1.1206 and 138.53 yen in New York.
The dollar was changing hands at 123.30 yen against 123.62 yen in US trade.German Chancellor Angela Merkel said a meeting of Eurozone finance ministers on Saturday would be “decisive” for finding a debt deal for Greece.