Euro climbs as leaders work toward keeping Greece among the euro zone

The value of the shared currency of the European Union advanced against the world's reserve currency on Monday, marking the second consecutive day of gains for the embattled monetary unit, Bloomberg reports.

Driving up the value of the euro as the trade week began was optimism for the euro zone as it contends with the sovereign debt crisis. Regional leaders committed to convene and discuss more aggressively merging efforts among banks in the 17-nation bloc.

"The discussion in Europe on what needs to be done has become very public," currency strategist Aroop Chatterjee with Barclays Capital in New York told Bloomberg. "Euro-dollar had sold off quite a bit last week so we are seeing some retracement."

The euro climbed from scraping its lowest value in 11 years against the Japanese yen, against which the U.S. dollar also solidified as yields on U.S. Treasury notes gained for the first time in four days after plunging to record lows.

Among the uplifting news was conjecture indicating officials and leaders are discussing strategies of preserving Greece's place among the euro zone, Reuters reports. The Aegean nation has accepted two tranches of international bailout aid during the past 24 months.