The yen strengthened against most of its major peers as Europe’s fiscal crisis loomed over a second day of debt sales in Italy, supporting demand for refuge assets. Italy is scheduled to auction 9 billion euros ($11 billion) of 185-day bills today, followed by sales of five- and 10-year bonds tomorrow totaling 5.5 billion euros. The nation’s 10-year yields climbed to a five-month high of 6.34 percent on June 14, nearing the 7 percent level that spurred Greece, Ireland and Portugal to seek bailouts.

Italy sold zero-coupon notes yesterday maturing in 2014 to yield 4.712 percent, the most this year. Investors bid for 1.65 times the amount offered, the lowest bid-to-cover ratio since November.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande will meet today in Paris before a two-day European Union summit in Brussels. The EU summit starting tomorrow is the first meeting of European leaders since pro-bailout parties in Greece won at parliamentary elections on June 17. France and Italy are urging Germany to help end the debt crisis, now in its third year.