* Russia's Kudrin voices confidence in dollar
* Euro zone worries help push euro down 1 pct vs dollar
* Data shows slump in U.S. factory sector, capital outflows (Updates prices, adds quotes, U.S. data, changes byline, dateline; previous LONDON)
By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss
NEW YORK, June 15 (Reuters) - The dollar gained against most currencies on Monday after Russia expressed confidence in the U.S. currency, while concerns about the euro zone economy weighed on the euro.
Data showing a slump in the New York state's factory sector and in June and a net capital outflow from the United States in April failed to dent dollar buying.
"It's still Kudrin's comments that have been supporting the dollar," said Brian Kim, currency strategist, at UBS in Stamford, Connecticut.
Speaking on the sidelines of a Group of Eight finance ministers in Italy, Russia's Alexei Kudrin said the dollar's role as the world's main reserve currency is unlikely to change in the near future. [ID:nFCA000184]
This boosted the dollar, alleviating concerns that major emerging market countries may be diversifying their reserves away from the dollar ahead of a summit of leaders of Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) in Russia on Tuesday.
"Some people have sold the dollar as a result of chatter about diversification away from the U.S. dollar. Now that the finance ministers are standing by the dollar, people are starting to buy the dollar again," UBS's Kim said.
In early New York trading, the ICE Futures' dollar index, a gauge of the greenback's value against a basket of major currencies, rose 0.9 percent to 80.844 <.DXY>.
The euro was 1.2 percent lower against the U.S. currency to
$1.3850
The euro had fallen on Friday after much weaker-than-expected euro zone industrial production data last week, while a German industry group warned on Monday that tight credit conditions are putting a squeeze on German firms that may hamper a recovery [ID:nLF082319].
Meanwhile, U.S. data on Monday showing New York's factory sector shrinking at a more severe rate in June hardly affected market sentiment. One analyst even said the New York Federal Reserve's "Empire State" report, which was weaker than expected, suggested broad stability relative to the May figure. For the report, see [ID:nN15768].
"All in all, the data will probably be seen as a sign that May Empire improvement was an exaggeration and the latest numbers are still consistent with further improvements in other indices including the ISM (Institute for Supply Management)," said Alan Ruskin, chief international strategist, at RBS Global Banking and Markets in Greenwich, Connecticut.
"Nothing here to interfere with the better dollar tone."
Markets also showed little reaction to a U.S. Treasury report showing a capital outflow in April. What was even more striking, analysts said, was the fact that China, Russia, and Japan all reduced their holdings of U.S. Treasuries. For table, click on [ID:nN15185253]. (Additional reporting by Jessica Mortimer in London; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)