The euro continues to face downward pressure.

The euro weakened against most of its major counterparts amid concern Europe’s sovereign-debt crisis will push up borrowing costs and damp economic growth for the nations in the region. The 17-nation currency is set to drop against 15 of its 16 most-traded peers this month before Italy auctions securities today. A report tomorrow may show business confidence in the nation dipped to the lowest in almost two years. Demand for the dollar and yen as a refuge was limited as U.S. data signaled a recovery in the world’s biggest economy is gaining momentum. You can’t be optimistic about the Italian debt sales and I don’t expect very good results to come out,” said Toshiya Yamauchi, a senior currency analyst in Tokyo at Ueda Harlow Ltd., which provides foreign-exchange margin-trading services. “The euro continues to face downward pressure.” The euro was at $1.3067 at 8:24 a.m. in Tokyo from $1.3071 yesterday in New York. The currency bought 101.78 yen from 101.80 yen. The dollar fetched 77.89 yen from 77.88. Italy is scheduled to sell 9 billion euros ($11.8 billion) of 179-day bills and as much as 2.5 billion euros of zero-coupon 2013 securities today. The nation’s 10-year bond yields climbed two basis points yesterday to 7 percent, the level that spurred Greece, Ireland and Portugal to seek bailouts.