The euro fell on Thursday, dragged down versus the dollar after a top European Union official said eurozone finance ministers would discuss the currency's appreciation before a Group of Seven meeting on Saturday. The dollar gained broadly as waning risk appetite ahead of key US data prompted investors to seek the relative safety of the greenback.
The euro fell more than half a percent to the day's low against the dollar after the EU's Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said euro strength would be discussed when officials meet in Istanbul at the weekend. His comments followed statements from finance officials around the world in the past week on their discomfort with their currencies' strength against the dollar, which has tumbled around 10 percent against a currency basket in the past six months.
"What we are seeing now is a little bit of a correction taking place given some of the recent strong gains. This has been triggered by the talk in Europe this morning from both EU and ECB (European Central Bank) officials discussing the currency," said Ian Stannard, senior currency strategist at BNP Paribas in London.
ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet said on Thursday that excess foreign exchange moves had an adverse impact. On Monday he backed the argument for a strong US currency. G7 finance ministers and central bank governors will meet on Saturday on the sidelines of World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings to discuss recent financial market developments.
By 1127 GMT, the euro was down 0.7 percent at the day's low around $1.4530. The single European currency was also weighed down by data showing weaker than expected German retail sales but was little moved by European purchasing management indices. They held ground or moved closer to recovery in September, although the possibility of a double-dip slowdown remained.
The dollar rose 0.3 percent to 90.02 yen, staying above an eight-month trough of 88.23 yen hit earlier this week on trading platform EBS. Offers from some Japanese exporters limited gains in the dollar, traders said. The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the US currency against a basket of six major currencies, was up 0.6 percent on the day at 77.134.
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