The euro rose as Europe's leaders intensify Geece's bailout talks. Talks lasted into the early hours of Tuesday morning in Berlin, involving German Chancellor Angela Merkel, International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde, ECB President Mario Draghi, French President Francois Hollande and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. The goal was to hammer out an offer that Greece could consider in coming days, according to two people familiar with the plan.
The euro was boosted by an uptick in consumer prices along with the fact that there's the possibility of an 11th-hour deal coming through in Greece.
The inflation rate in the euro area increased to 0.3% in May. That exceeded the 0.2% forecast. Core inflation accelerated to 0.9%, the fastest in nine months. Separate German data showed unemployment declined for an eighth month in May.
The ECB meets Wednesday in Frankfurt. The central bank is in the early days of a 1.1 trillion-euro ($1.2 trillion) bond-buying program which Executive Board Member Benoit Coeure said would be frontloaded in May and June.
The ECB's latest projections foresee an average inflation rate of zero this year, rising to 1.8% by 2017. Its main refinancing rate is set at 0.05% while the deposit facility is at minus 0.2%.