Euro weakens ahead of German ruling on bailout fund

TOKYO: The euro weakened in Asia on Monday as markets await a key German court ruling on the eurozone's bailout fund, after the embattled unit gained on a fresh crisis plan from the European Central Bank.

The common currency bought $1.2787 in Tokyo morning trade from $1.2811 in New York late Friday, while it slipped to 99.99 yen from 100.21 yen.

The dollar was quoted at 78.20 yen, unchanged from US trade.

On Friday, the euro jumped above 100 yen for the first time in two months after the ECB unveiled a plan to buy bonds from troubled eurozone nations in a bid to bring down their heavy borrowing costs and prop up the 17-nation unit.

The euro had also gained on the dollar Friday with the greenback hit by data from the US Labor Department that showed the United States added only 96,000 jobs in August, well below the 130,000 estimated.

"(But) the EUR/USD may have climbed too high, and caution is leading to position adjustments," said Masashi Murata, senior currency strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman in Tokyo.

Euro sentiment was also dampened by broader worries about the bloc sinking into recession, while traders were looking to Wednesday's German court ruling on the European Stability Mechanism bailout fund (ESM), dealers said.

The court, which was set to rule on the legality of the fund, was not expected to block the ESM.