Euro edges down in Asia trade

TOKYO: The euro edged down in Asian trade on Tuesday as markets largely shrugged off a eurozone finance ministers' deal to bail out debt-riddled Spain.

The common currency was changing hands at $1.2293 in Tokyo morning trade against $1.2312 in New York late Monday.

Against the Japanese currency, the euro bought 97.76 yen from 97.95 yen in US trade the previous day, while the dollar was also weaker at 79.52 yen from 79.56 yen.

Finance ministers from the 17-nation eurozone agreed to a rescue deal for Spain at talks ending early Tuesday in Brussels, with a first tranche of 30 billion euros ($37 billion) to help its troubled banking sector by the end of the month.

After nine hours of talks ended beyond midnight, the ministers also agreed to extend a 2013 deadline for Spain to cut its public deficit to the European Union 3.0 percent limit by one year.

Jean-Claude Juncker, who heads the eurozone finance ministers group, told reporters that the deadline was extended in view of the difficult economic conditions Spain faced.

In exchange for the loans, the eurozone will demand reforms of specific banks as well as the banking sector as a whole.

The deal to help Spain is part of a broader package aimed at propping up the troubled bloc.