TOKYO (MarketWatch) -- The euro fell against the dollar and the yen in Asia on Thursday, as European market participants unloaded their euro-holdings to adjust positions before a series of the euro-zone central bank policy-setting meetings.
The euro's decline was also the result of lackluster Asian share markets that prompted short-term traders to sell the risk-sensitive euro, dealers said. The pound also lost against the dollar and the yen for the same reasons.
But they said the euro's direction is unclear because it is so dependent on these meetings.
Early in the Asian morning, European market participants continued to cut their high-yielding euro holdings, traders said.
"Before risk events, investors trimmed their positions that they had accumulated excessively overnight," said Yuzo Sakai, a foreign-exchange manager at Tokyo Forex & Ueda Harlow.
Traders also said declines in Asian share markets--with the Benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average index down 1.0% in early Tokyo afternoon--chilled risk appetite, causing selling of the euro.
At 0450 GMT, the European single unit slipped almost a yen to Y134.07, from its level in New York on Wednesday. Against the dollar, the currency declined two-thirds of a cent to $1.4837. The pound exchanged hands at Y149.20 and at $1.6513 as of 0450 GMT, down from Y150.68 and $1.6592 overnight.
Attention has now turned to the policy-rate setting meetings of the Bank of England, scheduled for 1200 GMT, and the European Central Bank at 1245 GMT. While the two central banks are expected to keep their policy rates unchanged, traders are focused on whether the BOE will announce an extension of its asset-purchase program.