The euro surged the most this year after European leaders agreed to drop the condition that emergency loans to Spanish banks give their governments preferred creditor status.

The European Union has “addressed the issues on the seniority of Spanish loans,” said Roy Teo, a currency strategist in Singapore at ABN Amro Private Bank. “That should help push down Spanish yields. It’s positive for the euro.”

The 17-nation euro surged as much as 1.5 percent, the biggest intraday advance since Nov. 30. It was up 1.2 percent to $1.2591 at 12:28 p.m. in Tokyo from the close in New Yorkyesterday. The euro jumped 1.1 percent to 99.93 yen after earlier falling as much as 0.3 percent. The Japanese currency fetched 79.35 per dollar from 79.46.

The Australian dollar added 0.9 percent to $1.0136 and the New Zealand dollar rallied 0.7 percent to 79.35 U.S. cents.

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