LONDON, July 23 - The euro tested an 11-day high versus the dollar in European trade on Wednesday and gained slightly versus the yen, as markets eyed a host of official comments on foreign exchange intervention. The dollar failed to capitalise on Tuesday's news the United States killed Saddam Hussein's sons, possibly getting a fresh impetus in its search for the ousted Iraqi leader, with investors prefering to focus on macroeconomic prospects rather than geopolitical issues.
Earlier on Wednesday, U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow said that intervention in the foreign exchange market should be kept to a minimum. Markets interpreted this as a step back from his recent positive remarks about Japan's yen-selling this year. Meanwhile in Japan, vice finance minister Zembei Mizoguchi said foreign exchange interventions were aimed at stabilising the markets and not weakening the yen, as is broadly seen by analysts. At 0655 GMT, the euro was up a quarter percent from Tuesday's close against the dollar at $1.1362 and against the yen at 135.29 . However, the dollar was steady versus the yen at 119.03 . Wednesday's macroeconomic data releases slate was quite sparse with German and Italian cities preliminary inflation numbers due early in European trade and the U.S. mortgage market index due at 1100 GMT.
Belgium's leading indicator, seen as a good gauge of broader euro zone trends, was forecast at minus 17.3 compared with negative 25 in June. In New York trading hours, two Federal Reserve officials give speeches with Board Governor Ben Bernanke at 1500 GMT and Bank of Dallas President Robert McTeer at 1700 GMT. Deutsche Bank President Ernst Welteke speaks at 1600 GMT. Markets are also looking to the 0830 GMT Bank of England release of the Monetary Policy Committee minutes from its July 9-10 meeting when it unexpectedly ordered a 25-basis point interest rate cut.//