* Commodity-linked currencies hurt by IMF gold sales news
* USD extend gains after Fed minutes, data
* BOJ skips new initiatives, Shirakawa to speak later
By Satomi Noguchi
TOKYO, Feb 18 (Reuters) - The dollar rose on a basket of currencies on Thursday extending gains near to 7-month highs after the International Monetary Fund said it planned to sell more gold in the market, pushing down bullion prices and commodity-linked currencies.
The IMF announced it would begin phased open-market sales of the remaining 191.3 tonnes of gold under a programme launched last year to raise new resources for lending..
The dollar retained strength from Wednesday's stronger U.S. economic data and evidence that the Federal Reserve discussed strategies to withdraw monetary stimulus, while fiscal concerns in the euro zone countries continued to drag on the euro.
"The gold sale news is weighing on the Aussie especially against the U.S. dollar which is seeing a biddish tone," said Jonathan Cavenagh, currency strategist at Westpac.
"We have a month-end target for 82 for the dollar index and given the sovereign risks surrounding the euro and the macro economic pulse getting better for the U.S., we would see every dip in the dollar as a buying opportunity."
The dollar index was up 0.3 percent at 80.581, not far from its seven-month high of 80.748 hit late last week.
A weekly close above 80.43 will establish an uptrend for the dollar in the near term. Charts show the next target is at around 81.47, which is the index's June 2009 high, and then around 81.90, which is the 50 percent retracement of the index's fall from 89.62 to 74.17 last year.
Spot gold dropped on the IMF gold sales news, dragging the Aussie and the New Zealand dollar along with it.
The Aussie fell 0.2 percent to $0.8960 while the kiwi dropped 0.2 percent to $0.7006 after the announcement.
The dollar pared some of the previous day's gains against the yen, easing 0.3 percent to 90.97 yen from late on Wednesday when it rose to as high as 91.39 yen on trading platform EBS, its highest since Jan. 21, helped by the upbeat U.S. data.
The Bank of Japan kept interest rates on hold and held off on new policy initiatives, as widely expected.
The yen added to its recovery from one-month low versus the dollar on the announcement as the BOJ disappointed some traders who had speculated that there could have been further monetary easing steps.
Traders are now eying comments from BOJ Governor Masaaki Shirakawa who is due to speak at an embargoed news conference starting from 0630 GMT.
Traders said the dollar was likely to trade heavily during Tokyo hours with offers by Japan exporters above 91.50 yen.
The euro dropped 0.3 percent to $1.3567, faltering near its nine-month low of $1.3532 struck on Friday, after having lost nearly 1.2 percent on Wednesday.
It fell in the previous session after European finance ministers on Tuesday gave Greece a one-month reprieve, until March 16, to show its deficit reduction plan was being rolled out effectively. They set the same deadline for themselves to decide what should happen next.
The euro has fallen almost 5 percent against the dollar since the start of the year on concerns about the fiscal health of Greece and other euro zone countries.
Currency speculators raised net euro short positions to a record high last week and the single's currency bounce earlier this week was more to do with positioning adjustments than structural improvements on the currency union's outlook, traders said.
The dollar drew support from the minutes of the last Federal Reserve policy meeting and stronger-than-expected data. U.S. housing starts hit their highest in six months and industrial output showed a solid rise. For details see.
The minutes of the Federal Reserve's January meeting showed members saw a need to begin unwinding some of the extraordinary stimulus measures in place, including a programme of asset sales in the near future as an economic recovery gathers ground. For details.
Sterling edged down to $1.5650, having shed 0.75 percent on Wednesday after minutes from the Bank of England's latest policy meet showed a dovish bias and UK unemployment data was soft. (Additional reporting by Anirban Nag; Editing by Joseph Radford)