* US dollar falls on dovish comments from Fed's Bullard
* ECB's Trichet, Paramo talk about exit strategy
* Dollar hits 6-week low vs yen; high-yielders rise
* U.S. existing home sales surge 10.1 percent in Oct. (Updates prices, adds comments, U.S. data)
By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss
NEW YORK, Nov 23 (Reuters) - The dollar declined broadly on Monday after a Federal Reserve official affirmed expectations U.S. interest rates would stay low for some time and strong U.S. housing data dampened the currency's safe-haven appeal.
Low rates would limit returns on many U.S. investments, prompting investors to diversify out of the currency and seek other, riskier assets with higher yields.
A. U.S. housing report showing a jump in existing home sales in October further spurred the market's risk appetite and boosted higher-yielding currencies such as the Australian and New Zealand dollars. For more, please see [ID:nN23249040].
"The (housing) data adds to bearish U.S. dollar momentum, as stronger-than-expected home sales data is bullish for equity markets," said George Davis, chief technical strategist at RBC Capital Markets in Toronto. "That decreases risk aversion and increases broad-based dollar weakness.
Comments from St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard on Sunday also weighed on the dollar. Bullard said the Fed should keep alive its mortgage-related assets purchase program beyond a planned end date to help stimulate the economy. [ID:nN22246631].
Amelia Bourdeau, senior currency strategist at UBS in Stamford, Connecticut, said comments such as Bullard's fed investors' appetite for risk, keeping the dollar under pressure.
Both European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet and executive board member Jose Manuel Gonzalez Paramo discussed plans for the ECB to exit its quantitative strategy. On Monday in Madrid, Trichet said that as the situation becomes more normal, the focus in the medium term calls for a "gradual and timely phasing out of these measures." [ID:nGEE5AM1L9].
Paramo said on Sunday the ECB could detail plans for phasing out its quantitative easing at the December meeting. [ID:nGEE5AL04Z].
Their remarks have boosted the view that the ECB is likely to exit its easing strategy ahead of the Fed, underpinning the euro against the dollar.
In mid-morning New York trading, the euro was up 0.8
percent at $1.4975
The euro was earlier supported after a survey showed the euro zone's service sector grew at its fastest pace in two years in November, suggesting an economic recovery will continue in the fourth quarter, albeit at a slower rate. [ID:nGEE5AM0RG]
The ICE Futures dollar index <.DXY> dropped 0.8 percent to 75.064, off a two-week high of 75.879 hit on Friday.
Against the yen, the dollar was flat at 88.95 yen