Euro stable in Asia after French-German talks

TOKYO: The euro was stable against major currencies in Asian trade Tuesday as investors focused on European reactions to recent talks between France and Germany on the eurozone debt crisis.

The euro was at $1.2771 in Asian trade, up from $1.276 late Monday in New York. The European currency had dropped to a low of $1.2665 in early Monday trade in Singapore.

The single currency was slightly higher against the Japanese unit at 98.11 yen, compared with 98.06 in New York.

The dollar edged down to 76.82 yen from 76.84.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel vowed Monday to speed up various measures to ease the eurozone crisis, saying an agreement on stricter budgetary rules tying in all EU members except Britain should be signed by March 1.

EU leaders are looking into ways of equipping the fund, the European Stability Mechanism, with all its resources in one go, rather than putting in smaller tranches under the current plan.