FOREX-Euro up on joint bond optimism, but bias to downside

* France, Germany leaders voice confidence in Greece

* EU's Barroso comments on euro bonds help euro off lows

* One-in-three chance of U.S falling into recession-Poll

(Updates prices, adds quotes, changes byline)

By Julie Haviv

NEW YORK, Sept 14 (Reuters) - The euro rose against the dollar on Wednesday as comments by the European Commission president raised hopes for the introduction of shared euro area bonds that could help contain the region's debt crisis.

Also buoying the euro was a joint statement from German and French leaders following a conference call that they are convinced Greece's future is in the euro zone. For story, [ID:nA8E7K2008] [ID:nP6E7JVO5E]

In afternoon New York trading, the euro was up 0.6 percent at $1.37514 on electronic platform EBS after having climbed as high as $1.37720, a three-day peak.

The dollar fell to its lowest level versus the yen since Sept. 2 at 76.64 yen , within the 76.40/77.85 range of the last three weeks. Investors remained wary of possible intervention by Japan to weaken the yen.

"European developments remain central to currency market movements," said Vassili Serebriakov, currency strategist at Wells Fargo in New York.

Recent comments by China's Premier Wen Jiabao and U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner suggest international pressure on European officials is rising, he said.

"That pressure is understandable given that European events remain the key threat to financial market stability and global recovery at the moment."

The European Union's most senior finance officials will warn ministers this week about the threat of a renewed credit crunch as a "systemic" crisis in sovereign debt spills over to banks. [ID:nLDE78DOEZ]

The Dutch finance minister, meanwhile, said the government will do everything it can to save the euro and they had not given up on the rescue for Greece. [ID:nWEA4414]

Lane Newman, director of FX trading at ING Capital Markets in New York said even though the euro is currently trading around $1.37, "it is very much on the backfoot."

He added that "there is a lot of position-liquidation going on," in almost all currencies and the euro was the first to go down as a result. The recovery in the euro doesn't really change its bearish outlook, Newman said.

"The question is whether the euro zone bailout fund has enough money to preserve countries such as Germany, France, and Spain, when you take into account the costs to restructuring Greek, Portuguese, and Irish debt."

The euro rose after European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso pledged the Commission would soon publish a long-promised study on introducing euro area bonds, viewed by some as a potential solution to sovereign debt concerns. [ID:nLDE78D03R]

Market players remained wary after Barroso warned the move would not end the crisis. Germany also remains firmly opposed to any such move. [ID:nB5E7K601K]

Moody's downgrade of Societe Generale and Credit Agricole had a limited impact on the euro as the move had been widely anticipated. [ID:nL3E7KE09F]

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Euro zone crisis in graphics: http://r.reuters.com/hyb65p

European banks in graphics: http://link.reuters.com/qux33s

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U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who will attend a meeting of EU finance ministers in Poland on Friday, expressed confidence in the ability of euro zone leaders to resolve their debt crisis. [ID:nS1E78D0FH]

But focus will switch back to the U.S. dollar next week when the U.S. central bank's Federal Open Market Committee meets, with any hints policymakers are considering another round of quantitative easing likely to weigh on the dollar.

A Reuters poll found a one-in-three chance of the United States, the euro zone and Britain falling into recession. [ID:nL3E7KE2N7]

(Additional reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss, Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)