The International Monetary Fund (IMF) called late Thursday for European leaders to channel aid directly to struggling banks rather than via governments and for the European Central Bank (ECB) to cut interest rates, saying the future of the euro was at stake.

The ECB is on the verge of relaxing its collateral rules for central-bank loans, in a bid to ease strains on commercial banks in Spain and the rest of Southern Europe, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Asian shares fell on Friday while the dollar hovered near its highest in a week-and-a-half as US manufacturing data showed manufacturing grew at its slowest pace in 11 months in June. This added to gloomy Chinese factory output figures released by HSBC on Thursday.

Invvestors will be watching closely for the latest German IFO business climate index for May released at 10:00 a.m. (CET), with analysts expecting a fall in sentiment.

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