The euro rose toward a two-month high after a Greek government official signaled confidence that finance ministers in the currency bloc will approve a second financing accord for the debt-strapped nation. The common currency rose for a third day against the yen after Greek politicians debated budget cuts needed to secure the bailout with a remaining dispute over pension cuts. The pound held onto a decline from yesterday on prospects the Bank of England will expand its asset-purchase program. The European Central Bank also meets today to set monetary policy. “The market thinks they’ll patch together some sort of deal,� said Tim Kelleher, head of institutional foreign- exchange sales in Auckland at ASB Institutional, a unit of Commonwealth Bank of Australia, referring to Greece. “The market still appears to be very short euros as a speculative position, so that’s one of the reasons why it’s not going down.� A short position is a bet a currency will depreciate. The euro rose 0.2 percent to $1.3281 as of 2:39 p.m. in Tokyo from the close in New York yesterday, where it reached $1.3289, the highest since Dec. 12. The European currency rose 0.3 percent to 102.49 yen after gaining 1.6 percent over the past two days. The dollar advanced 0.2 percent to 77.18 yen. The pound fetched $1.5828 from $1.5818 after losing 0.5 percent yesterday. Ministers’ Meeting Greece must pass an accord on spending cuts to receive a 130 billion-euro ($172 billion) rescue package from the so- called troika of lenders and avoid default. Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos and the leaders of the three parties supporting the government “agreed on all the points of the program with the exception of one which requires further elaboration and discussion� with the lenders, according to an e-mailed statement from the premier’s office. They failed to resolve a dispute over pension cuts. Papademos was in phone contact with the party leaders during a meeting with European Union and International Monetary Fund officials in Athens earlier today to seal terms for the package, a Greek official, who declined to be named, told reporters. Euro-area finance ministers, to be joined by IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde, will convene at 6 p.m. in Brussels, according to a statement by Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean- Claude Juncker, who chairs the group of finance chiefs from the currency bloc. That gathering will follow the monthly meeting today of the ECB’s governing council in Frankfurt. The central bank will keep the benchmark interest rate unchanged at 1 percent, economist estimates compiled by Bloomberg News show. The Bank of England will increase bond purchases by 50 billion pounds ($79 billion) at a policy meeting today, according to a separate Bloomberg survey. To contact the reporter on this story: Masaki Kondo in Singapore at mkondo3@bloomberg.net; Kristine Aquino in Singapore at kaquino1@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Rocky Swift at rswift5@bloomberg.net.

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