The euro declined against the dollar, approaching a nine-year low, on speculation reports this week will strengthen the argument for sovereign-bond purchases from the European Central Bank. The dollar advanced versus 13 of its 16 major counterparts, after traders increased to a record level the futures positions they hold that profit from the greenback’s gains. The pound slipped against the dollar before a report tomorrow that economists said will show Britain’s inflation rate fell below 1 percent for the first time since June 2002. The 19-nation euro declined 0.2 percent to $1.1824 as of 9:42 a.m. London time, adding to last week’s 1.3 percent slide that pushed it as low as $1.1754 on Jan. 8, the least since December 2005. It gained 0.1 percent to 140.48 yen, after being at 140.03 yen, the weakest since Oct. 31. The dollar rose 0.3 percent to 118.82 yen, after earlier dropping 0.3 percent. Euro-area industrial production was stagnant in November, after growing 0.1 percent the month before, the European Union’s statistics office in Luxembourg will say in two days’ time, according to economists in a Bloomberg News survey. A report on Friday will confirm that consumer prices in the region fell in December, according to a separate Bloomberg survey. Sterling depreciated 0.4 percent to $1.5106 and was little changed at 78.16 pence. Source: Bloomberg

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