LONDON, Jan 19 - The dollar held steady versus the euro in early European trade on Monday, hanging on to last week's five cents worth of gains that brought it back from recent all time lows. Expressions of concern by European policy makers last week over the pace of the euro's rise helped propel the dollar to its biggest week of gains against the euro since March 2001. With U.S. markets closed for holiday, investors will be watchful for any further statements by European officials. The Eurogroup of euro zone finance ministers gather later on Monday for a meeting which could provide a forum to express more concerns. Friday's firm U.S. capital inflows figures capped a week of generally good economic data, helping the dollar to its biggest one-day rise in five months.
At 0800 GMT, the euro was steady on the day at $1.2390 , off last Monday's all-time high of $1.2898. It was a touch higher against the yen at 132.36 but near one-month lows below 131.60. The dollar was steady at 106.90 yen . Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt said the current level of the euro against the dollar does not constitute a major problem but a renewed rise could create problems.//