24 May 2005, 10:40  Dollar budges before Fed minutes

The dollar hovered near a seven-month high against the euro on Tuesday, but currency moves were restricted ahead of the release of Federal Reserve policy meeting minutes later in the day. The euro-zone currency has taken a beating due to sluggish economic growth and mounting political uncertainty in Europe, with the market focused on the possibility that France could reject a European Union constitution at an upcoming referendum. "It's clear that the euro buying trend has been broken, so we can expect quite a bit more euro selling," said Hideaki Inoue, forex manager at Mitsubishi Trust and Banking. "Even if there is a buy-back in the near term, it probably won't gain past $1.27." The market was hardly affected by a Financial Times report that U.S. Treasury officials had told China that it must revalue the yuan by 10 percent. "The dollar may have moved slightly on the report, but it's not having a big impact," said a trader at a European bank. "The 10 percent issue is just an ideal level set out by the U.S. An actual 10 percent revaluation would be a big deal, but for now it's just a way to turn up the pressure on China." The FT report said the U.S. Treasury had enlisted unofficial envoys including former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to urge Beijing to revalue by at least 10 percent to avoid U.S. protectionist trade legislation.

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