16 February 2004, 11:15  Dollar holds firm in Europe, Trichet in focus

LONDON, Feb 16 - The dollar traded flat against the euro on Monday, retaining Friday's sharp gains while markets looked ahead to European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet's testimony for possible currency comments. Trichet's 1400 GMT testimony before the European Parliament's Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee should provide markets an opportunity to gauge his thinking on the euro, which strengthened close to all-time highs on Friday before its retracement. Investors have been worried by recent expressions of concern by Europe over the pace of the euro's gains and were also perturbed on Friday by rumours of ECB intervention after the euro fell a full cent in less than half an hour. Analysts said they were sceptical of those rumours but they showed how sensitive investors have become to the prospect of European intervention. Meanwhile they said a U.S. market holiday could keep trade subdued on Monday. At 0810 GMT, the dollar traded at $1.2740 , little changed from Friday's late New York levels. It was also flat on the yen at 105.47 , but near recent three-year lows around 105.15.//www..com

© 1999-2024 Forex EuroClub
All rights reserved