LONDON, Nov 24 - The dollar fell to a record low against the euro on Wednesday as sales of the U.S. currency against most of its major competitors gathered momentum.
Some investors accelerated their selling after news that Russia may review the share of euros in its foreign currency reserves, while others used higher oil prices as a sell signal.
Above all, there were few signs that the world's policymakers were likely to prop up the dollar and the market continued to worry about the U.S. current account deficit.
"There is a relentless grind higher in euro/dollar," said Lee Ferridge, head of global currency strategy at Rabobank in London.
"Nobody wants to bet against it.
The dollar fell to $1.3167 per euro , a new record low and down half a percent from late New York levels, but it rose to $1.3149 by 1230 GMT. The dollar also slumped to a nine-year low of 1.1500 Swiss francs .
It stood at 102.95 yen , down from 103.30 in New York and within sight of Friday's four-year low of around 102.70.
Oil prices have crept up to a nearly three-week high above $50 a barrel on Tuesday and traded around $49 on Wednesday.
At 1330 GMT, the U.S. Commerce Department releases October durable goods orders data. Economists in a survey expect a median 0.5 percent rise in October orders, compared with a rise of 0.2 percent in the previous month.
The University of Michigan releases the final November consumer sentiment index at 1445 GMT. Economists polled by expect a reading of 96.0 compared with 91.7 in the final October report.
ONLY BAD NEWS?
The market's negative sentiment towards the dollar was reinforced last week after the Group of 20 rich and developing nations gave no indication they would take action to stem the dollar's fall at a high profile meeting in Berlin.
Instead, policymakers from the U.S. and Europe continued to blame each other for the dollar's woes.
The U.S. also appeared to accept the downtrend, which has taken the dollar to a nine-year low against a basket of currencies <=USD>.
U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan aggravated worries over the current account deficit when he said last week that market appetite for U.S. assets will eventually dwindle, raising the prospect that inflows of foreign funds into the U.S. will become insufficient to offset its wide current account deficit.
"Sentiment is extremely bearish," said Stephen Jen, chief currency strategist at Morgan Stanley in London. "We are in an overshooting territory and this is going to continue unless it's stopped by the authorities. The key driver has been a shift in the U.S. currency policy," he said.
Russia added to dollar-negative news, when the first deputy chairman of the Russian central bank, Alexei Ulyukayev, said on Tuesday the bank was reviewing its forex reserves "with the highest priority".(Reuters)