Investing.com - The euro edged higher on Monday amid hopes for a compromise agreement on a new debt deal for Greece after its current bailout expires at the end of the month.
EUR/USD was up 0.19% to 1.1413 from 1.1392 late Friday.
Greece was due to resume negotiations with its euro zone partners later in the day after talks on a new debt deal last week ended without an agreement.
Greece’s current €240 billion bailout is due to expire on February 28 and the new Greek government does not want it extended, fuelling fears over a conflict with its creditors which could trigger the country’s exit from the euro zone.
On Sunday Athens said it was confident of reaching an agreement but reiterated it would not accept harsh austerity measures in any new deal.
The euro edged up against the yen, with EUR/JPY easing up 0.12% to 135.41, off Friday’s low of 135.03, but still below last Thursday’s highs of 136.68.
In Japan, data on Monday showed that the economy returned to growth in the final quarter of 2014, but growth was still weaker than expected, indicating that the recovery remain fragile.
Japan’s gross domestic product expanded at an annual rate of 2.2% in the three months to December official data showed, falling short of forecasts for 3.7%.
In other trade, the yen drifted higher against the dollar, with USD/JPY dipping 0.10% to 118.61.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, slid 0.19% to 94.05.