* Dollar hits 15-yr low vs yen
* Dollar/yen below Sept 15 intervention level
* Euro climbs above $1.40 but surrenders gains
* Aussie dollar surges to 27-yr high, closer to USD parity
(Adds details, updates prices)
NEW YORK, Oct 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar's downturn gathered pace on Thursday as it slid to a 15-year low against the Japanese yen and an all-time low against the Swiss franc on the prospect of the U.S. Federal Reserve printing more money.
Broad U.S. dollar selling pushed the euro to a more than eight-month high before investors bet that the rise was too far, too fast, while the Australian dollar surged to a 27-year high against its U.S. counterpart after surprisingly strong Australian jobs data revived talk of a Reserve Bank of Australia rate hike.
"The U.S. dollar fell against all the majors except the Canadian dollar as investors (and) traders try to get in front of the (quantitative easing) wave everyone expects," said T.J. Marta, chief market strategist at Marta on the Markets.
The Bank of England and the European Central Bank both stood pat on their monetary policies on Thursday, reinforcing the notion the Fed is further along the path to another round of quantitative easing than many other central banks, a move that would knock the dollar lower.
Midway though the New York session, the euro was down 0.1 percent at $1.3918 after earlier climbing to an an 8-1/2 month high of $1.4030 on electronic trading platform EBS. Traders reported good demand for one-month $1.4150 strikes as the market speculated on further euro gains.
The dollar was at 82.32 yen, down 0.7 percent, after hitting a 15-year low at 82.11 yen on trading platform EBS. Traders said there were options barriers at 82.
RECENT HISTORY
After the announcement of the initial quantitative easing program from the Federal Reserve in March 2009, the euro rallied around 16 percent to its next peak in November.
This time the euro has rallied some 6 percent from the August Fed meeting when talk of further easing surfaced.
The euro remained bid against the dollar after comments from European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet at a news conference after the rate decision, which investors took as indicating the euro zone would end stimulus measures sooner than the United States, a scenario already widely expected.
The dollar's latest decline made traders nervous, as the U.S. currency traded below the 82.87 yen level where Tokyo intervened for the first time in six years on Sept. 15.
Direct currency intervention and talk of monetary policy loosening by central banks has ignited the issue of global economic imbalances ahead of a Group of Seven finance ministers' and central bankers' meeting this weekend, where the threat of a currency war is likely to dominate discussion.
The dollar fell to an all-time low versus the Swiss franc of $0.9555 on trading platform EBS.
The Australian dollar surged to a 27-year high of $0.9918 on the back of surprisingly strong Australian data. Gains accelerated after the Australian currency triggered stops above its 2008 high of $0.9851 and option barriers at $0.9900.
Sterling hit its highest since early February at $1.6019, rallying after the BoE rate decision. It recovered from a five-month low versus the euro.