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 U.S. currency advanced versus all but two of its 16 major peers after traders increased futures positions that profit from the greenback’s gains to a record as investors see the Federal Reserve raising interest rates this year. 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. Norway’s krone slumped as the price of oil fell for a third day in London. “We’ve got a large contrast between the ECB and the Fed, the euro-zone economy will struggle at least in the first half of this year, inflation is going to go even lower as the oil-price effect comes through,� said Peter Dragicevich, a strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia in London. “There’s limited upside in the euro and it should continue to drift lower as the year progresses.� VIDEO: Is the ECB Gearing Up for Quantitative Easing? The 19-nation euro declined 0.3 percent to $1.1802 at 6:44 a.m. New York 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 0.3 percent to 140.75 yen after being at 140.03 yen, the weakest since Oct. 31. The dollar rose 0.6 percent to 119.23 yen after earlier dropping 0.3 percent. European Data 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 consumer prices in the region fell in December, according to a separate Bloomberg survey. ECB President Mario Draghi will probably unveil quantitative easing-type policies at a Jan. 22 policy meeting, UBS Group AG’s Chairman Axel Weber, who is a former president of Germany’s Bundesbank, said today. The euro may weaken to $1.10, Weber said in an interview from Shanghai. VIDEO: Shah Sees Bond Yields Falling Further on Oil Decline A dollar gauge resumed gains that had stalled last week after a mixed labor-market report. While American employers hired 252,000 workers in December, more than the 240,000 median forecast of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News, average hourly earnings slumped 0.2 percent, the biggest drop since comparable records began in 2006. Minutes from the Fed’s latest meeting, released last week, reiterated that policy makers are unlikely to raise rates for “at least the next couple of meetings.� The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index gained 0.3 percent to 1,144.57 after sliding 0.6 percent on Jan. 9. VIDEO: Euro Slides to Weakest Since 2006 on ECB, Greece Net Longs Hedge funds and other large speculators boosted contracts on the currency’s strength versus eight of its major peers to 431,961 as of Jan. 6, the most in data going back to 2003, according to Commodity Futures Trading Commission data compiled by Bloomberg. So-called net longs were 404,766 a week earlier. Brent crude for February settlement dropped as much as $1.56 to $48.55 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange and was at $48.75, set for the lowest close since April 2009. The krone, the currency of Western Europe’s biggest oil producer, slipped 1 percent to 7.7340 per dollar, pushing its drop this year to 3.7 percent, the most among the dollar’s 16 major peers. VIDEO: Pace of Euro Fall Hinges on How ECB Enacts QE: Stannard Britain’s inflation rate slowed to 0.7 percent last month from 1 percent in November, the Office for National Statistics in London will say tomorrow, according to the median forecast of economists in a Bloomberg survey. Inflation straying more than a percentage point from the Bank of England’s 2 percent target would require Governor Mark Carney to write a letter of explanation to Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne. Sterling fell 0.2 percent to $1.5134 and appreciated 0.2 percent to 77.99 pence per euro. To contact the reporter on this story: Lukanyo Mnyanda in Edinburgh at lmnyanda@bloomberg.net

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