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FOREX-Dollar edges down after UAE central bank moves

Published 11/29/2009, 07:38 PM
Updated 11/29/2009, 07:42 PM

* Yen falls broadly as charts suggest its rally overdone

* UAE c.bank action seen providing stability, but minimal

By Satomi Noguchi

TOKYO, Nov 30 (Reuters) - The dollar edged down against other major currencies on Monday, pausing from sharp gains made last week after the United Arab Emirates offered emergency assistance to banks in Dubai, soothing the market fears about a looming debt default.

The yen fell broadly with some investors selling it in early Asian trade as charts suggested the currency's steep gains last week that took it to a 14-year peak against the dollar had run their course.

The action of the UAE central bank to allay concerns about Dubai debt fallout was seen providing near-term stability to the market, but was considered the minimum policy help and would likely limited impact, analysts said.

"The (UAE central bank's) move offers stability to the market, but it also reflects the seriousness of the problem," said Masafumi Yamamoto, chief FX strategist for Japan at Barclays Capital.

"Given the great amount of uncertainty over how the rescue will be conducted and the impact on financial firms, the market continues to be nervous about the Dubai developments."

The UAE's central bank set up an emergency facility on Sunday to support bank liquidity in the first policy response to Dubai's debt woes that threatened to paralyse lending and derail the global economic recovery.

The dollar and the yen gained sharply last week as fears of a possible Dubai debt default sparked unwinding of carry trades, with investors rushing to buy back the low-yielding dollar and yen which they had used to buy higher-yielding currencies and assets such as the Australian dollar.

The dollar index, a gauge of the greenback's performance against six other major currencies, fell 0.2 percent from late U.S. trade on Friday to 74.843.

The euro rose 0.1 percent to $1.5006 and rose 0.2 percent to 129.80 yen.

The Australian dollar climbed about 1 percent to $0.9129.

The dollar edged up 0.1 percent against the yen to 86.64 yen, well off a 14-year low of 84.82 yen hit on Friday.

The Japanese government is expected this week to include measures to help ease the pain on the economy from the yen's rise in an extra stimulus budget, giving a mild push down to the yen.

But given no sign of coordinated intervention after Japan's Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii raised the prospect of a Group of Seven joint statement on currencies to cool the yen's rally, market players grew increasingly sceptical if the yen's rise was disorderly enough to draw a response from the U.S. or Europe.

Fujii was quoted by Japan's Mainichi daily on Monday as saying he would not intervene in currency markets and that now is a time to monitor the markets. (Editing by Michael Watson) ((satomi.noguchi@thomsonreuters.com; +81-3-6441-1875; Reuters Messaging; satomi.noguchi.reuters.com@reuters.net))

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