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Tokyo - The euro eased against the dollar and yen in Asia on Wednesday following mixed data from China that kept alive concerns over fresh monetary tightening, while eurozone woes remained in focus, dealers said.
The euro, seen as a risk-sensitive currency, fetched $1.4397 in Tokyo afternoon trading, down from $1.4410 in New York late on Tuesday.
The single European currency edged lower to ¥116.49 from ¥116.50. The dollar firmed to ¥80.88 from ¥80.83.
China said industrial production in April was up 13.4% on-year, short of expectations of a 14.5% rise.
Inflation hit 5.3%, below the previous month's 5.4% but higher than expectations of 5.2%, leading to concerns about policy tightening by Beijing that could impact growth in the world's number two economy.
"The China numbers were mixed, but the overall impression was that they were not that strong," Satoshi Okagawa, a senior FX dealer at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, told Dow Jones Newswires.
The euro had earlier held firm as pessimism about Greece's debt slightly receded, while investor risk appetite was boosted by rising commodity prices, dealers said.
Speculation about additional aid to debt-burdened Greece ahead of a meeting of eurozone finance ministers Monday had helped the unit, dealers said.
The speculation grew after Dow Jones Newswires reported Tuesday that Greece expects a new package of nearly €60bn in aid to cover its financial needs into 2013, citing a senior Greek government official.
Meanwhile, auditors from the EU, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank on Tuesday started an audit to see if Athens merits the next slice of critical rescue funding.
They will decide if the country is meeting conditions of its existing EU-IMF three-year rescue package worth €110bn to get next month a fifth €12bn tranche of rescue aid.
Standard & Poor's on Monday downgraded Greek long-term debt by two notches, deep into junk status, because of increased prospects that the country would have to restructure its debt.
Senior European and Greek officials have denied that any restructuring is on the agenda.
ECB executive board member Lorenzo Bini Smaghi warned Tuesday of "the contagion that a Greek disaster would inflict on the rest of the eurozone."
Jane Foley at Rabobank said the ECB's "fear" of a restructuring has given the markets confidence more bailout funding will be made available.
The rescue for Greece a year ago was the first of three bailouts that also included Ireland and now Portugal.
Now the renewed strain over Athens' debt mountain is seen as another severe challenge to the credibility of the eurozone.
The dollar was broadly lower against other Asian currencies, falling to Sg$1.2297 from 1.2335 on Tuesday, to 1 074.45 Korean won from 1 082.70 and to Tw$28.51 from 28.56.
The US unit also sagged to 8, 542.50 Indonesian rupiah from 8 559.00, to 42.91 Philippine pesos from 43.01 and to 30.05 Thai baht from 30.18.
