FOREX-US dollar rises, Greece woes weigh on euro

* US dollar lifted by inflation, manufacturing data

* Greece debt woes weigh on euro

* Euro/dollar may be headed to $1.4280

(Adds comments, details. Updates prices)

By Vivianne Rodrigues

NEW YORK, Jan 15 (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar rose broadly on Friday helped by data showing a rise in manufacturing and stable consumer price inflation, while concerns about the struggling Greek economy weighed on the euro.

Market confidence in Greece has fallen as its deficit has ballooned and credit ratings have been cut, hurting the euro. [ID:nLDE60D1N0]

"What is really crushing the euro is additional concern about the serviceability of the massive amount of debt rung up in Greece," said Dan Cook, a senior market analyst at IG Markets, in Chicago.

Until the issue is solved "we will likely see a lot of selling pressure on the euro," he added.

In the U.S., analysts noted the string of reports released on Friday were mostly in line with expectations, showing some improvement in a regional manufacturing indicator and tame consumer prices. Meanwhile, a measure of U.S. consumer sentiment was little changed in early January.

Still, the data may help pave the way for further gains in the dollar, they said.

For details on the reports, please see [ID:nN14198653], [ID:nN15208010] [ID:nN15218367] and [ID:nN15147344].

"It's not a surprise to see better-than-expected manufacturing data. A point of this recovery, outside of fiscal stimulus, is that the U.S. manufacturing sector is already on the rebound," said Michael Woolfolk, a senior currency strategist at BNY Mellon in New York.

He said euro/dollar may trade as low as $1.4280 in the coming days.

In late morning trading in New York, the euro declined 1 percent to $1.4357 , a session low, according to Reuters data.

Matthew Strauss, a senior currency strategist at RBC Capital Markets in Toronto said the sentiment on euro/dollar is bearish and that a recent break below $1.4450 was "quite important."

"We will probably continue to see euro/dollar slowly drifting lower," he said.

The euro also fell versus sterling , to hit a four-month low earlier of 88.11 pence. And it was 1.2 percent lower at 130.61 yen .

MERKEL RUMOUR

The single European currency had fallen sharply in Asia, on rumours, later denied, that German Chancellor Angela Merkel would resign. These followed the publication of a Time magazine report about her domestic political problems. [ID:nLDE60E05K]

The dollar fell to 90.61 yen earlier, its lowest in nearly four weeks, as the yen gained broadly on the back of a slide in higher-yielding currencies, which suffered from investors cutting back risky positions.

The dollar was last 0.2 percent lower at 90.91 yen.

The Australian and the New Zealand dollars fell against the their U.S. counterpart and versus the euro.

(Additional reporting by Steven C. Johnson and Wanfeng Zhou in New York and Neal Armstrong in London)