Euro weighs down as US says Russia increasing troops near Ukraine

The standoff on Europe's eastern edge is one of the deepest crises in East-West relations for decades, and markets had rallied in relief at earlier Russian statements about a military pullback

The euro was weighed down on Thursday after a U.S. official said Russia was increasing troop numbers near its border with Ukraine rather than withdrawing, offsetting a boost it had caught overnight from a modest retreat in U.S. rate hike expectations.

The standoff on Europe's eastern edge is one of the deepest crises in East-West relations for decades, and markets - and the euro - had rallied in relief at earlier Russian statements about a military pullback. A senior U.S. official told reporters on Wednesday that those statements were false.

The euro was pinned around $1.1379 early in the Asia session. The