"The euro adventure has begun", "The euro in a worldwide showdown with the dollar" and "The euro facing its baptism of fire" - were some of the headlines marking the arrival of the new joint European currency on the world's trading floors.

The International Herald Tribune says the euro opened strongly, but adds that the main test is how it fares in dealing in London.

The Sueddeutsche Zeitung hails the smooth transition to the euro, but warns that it remains very much a project of the political elite, one of banks and big business rather than of small traders, workers and pensioners.

Whatever happens on the money markets, the paper says, the euro has a long way to go to gain the confidence of the people who are supposed to carry it in their pockets in less than three years time.

Reaction in the British press was decidedly mixed, with a poll in the tabloid Sun showing that 90% of its readers are against joining the single curency. The newspaper follows up the survey with an editorial urging the government to retain the pound.

"The single currency is not about economics. It is political," the Sun says."The aim is to create a United States of Europe with common laws, taxes and currency."

The Independent raises concerns for sterling at the hands of currency speculators.

"As the euro goes live, the spectre of George Soros again hangs over the pound, which has remained outside the eurozone," it tells readers. "The currency speculator ... is said to be waiting in the wings ready to punish sterling."

The Financial Times says economists expect the euro to gain strength against the dollar and the pound over the coming months.

"Although the euro is expected eventually to become an international reserve almost as important as the dollar, central bank managers have shown no signs of hurrying to move their foreign exchange reserves into the European currency," the paper says.

The Daily Telegraph describes early trading as the "end of the phoney war over the fate of the pound".

The Times says most Europeans will probably fail to take much notice of the whole affair.