Euro opens at 11-year low against the yen in Asia

As markets open in Asia, the single currency used by 17 of Europe's nations has reached an 11-year low against the yen and a 16-month low against the US dollar as bad news continues to pour out of Europe, Reuters reported.

The developments indicated that investor concerns about European regulators' inability to stabilize sovereign debt portfolios showed no sign of abating.

At the close of trading in New York last week, the European currency had also suffered but was even lower in Asia on Monday, going as low 97.47 yen before stabilizing at 97.68. The euro fell to an early low of $1.2676 before rising back to $1.2701.

In a client note cited by Reuters, Jane Foley, senior foreign exchange strategist at Rabobank, said her firm had lowered their three-month Euro-to-dollar forecast to $1.25 but did not expect investors "to stray far from their long [US dollar] positions."

"Insofar as 2012 has opened to a chorus of concerns as to whether [the European Monetary Union] can even stay the course this year, we expect investors to continue hunting diversification trades," Foley wrote.

The weakening euro in Asia helped edge the dollar up 0.1 percent against a basket of major currencies.

Spain and Italy also plan to issue more sovereign bonds on Thursday and Friday, causing more jitters on world markets and threatening to add a new mini-chapter in the European debt crisis.

Reuters also reported today that European policy makers were reacting coolly to a proposal that they abandon plans to require private investors to help bail Greece out of its debt crisis. European Central Bank policymaker Athanasios Orphanides, governor of the central bank of Cyprus, said calling off plans to force losses on private sector holders of Greek debt would "help restore trust" in the eurozone and allow eurozone governments to avoid higher borrowing costs.