25 February 2005, 14:59  Dollar Wins Some Ground

The dollar rose further away from a recent six-week low against the euro on Friday as investors readied for a U.S. growth data release, betting on a strong reading on the world's largest economy.
Analysts said some players also took profits on the euro's rise over the last two weeks before Friday's gross domestic product data release and next week's manufacturing and payrolls numbers.
"The dollar is on a more positive path. People don't want to be short dollar going into next week and are booking profits," said Paul Mackel, currency strategist at ABN AMRO in London.
However, many analysts also believe the market is torn between the dollar-positive factors of rising official interest rates and strong growth on the one hand, and the persistent drag of the massive U.S. current account and budget deficits on the other.
At 6:10 a.m. EST, the dollar was up about a third of a percent against the euro at $1.3162, compared with a six-week low near $1.3270 set earlier this week.
It was steady on the day at 105.18 yen and slightly higher versus the Swiss franc, despite a better-than-expected reading of Switzerland's leading KOF indicator.
The KOF fell to 0.50 in February from a revised 0.53 in January, but this was still the lowest reading since December 2003. Economists surveyed by had expected the indicator to fall to 0.39 on average from an originally published 0.42 the previous month. The median forecast had been 0.36.

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