* Dlr index off 8-mth highs, but looks bullish on charts
* Euro boosted by Der Spiegel report, but runs into selling
By Kaori Kaneko
TOKYO, Feb 22 (Reuters) - The dollar slipped on Monday as
investors reassessed the chances of an earlier-than-expected
interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve, while the euro was
lifted by speculation of a quick bailout for Greece.
The yen fell as Shanghai's stock market <> was
relatively stable as it reopened after a week-long holiday,
allaying fears that this month's decision by China's central bank
to raise banks' required reserves could trigger a slide and hurt
investors' risk appetite.
The euro edged higher, helped by a report in German weekly
Der Spiegel on Saturday that Germany's finance ministry had
prepared plans for euro zone countries to help Greece.
[]
Market players said the euro was also due for a
short-covering bounce, given the way bets against the single
European currency have piled up.
This week, all eyes will be on Fed chief Ben Bernanke's
testimony in Congress on Wednesday and Thursday. Investors will
be looking for clues on rates after the Fed surprised many by
raising the discount rate last week. []
"Comments from Bernanke are expected to be similar to ones by
other Fed officials last week, playing down the possibility of an
early hike in the fed funds rate," a trader at a Japanese bank
said.
The euro rose 0.2 percent to $1.3633 <EUR=>, having rebounded
from a nine-month low of $1.3443 hit on trading platform EBS on
Friday after the Fed announced its decision to raise the discount
rate.
The dollar index, which measures the dollar's value against a
basket of currencies, dipped 0.2 percent to 80.469 <.DXY>, having
retreated from an eight-month high of 81.342 hit on Friday.
Still, daily charts indicate a bullish outlook for the dollar
with the 55-day moving average pushing above the 200-day moving
average, indicating a "golden cross" has been established.
The next resistance for the dollar index is around 81.46,
which is its June 8, 2009 high and then around 81.90, which is a
50 percent retracement of the index's fall from 89.62 to 74.17
last year.
The dollar managed to eke out gains against the yen, rising
0.2 percent to 91.69 yen <JPY=>, having hit a one-month high of
92.16 yen on Friday on EBS.
Currency markets took the Fed's discount rate decision last
week as a signal the U.S. central bank was coming closer to
tightening its benchmark rate despite assurances from Fed
policymakers to the contrary.
The move triggered a rally in the greenback late last week,
as higher rates would increase returns on dollar-denominated
assets.
The dollar has since trimmed some of its gains, with
tamer-than-expected U.S. consumer inflation data on Friday
helping to ease some rate hike expectations.
Meanwhile, Der Spiegel reported on Saturday that Germany's
finance ministry had prepared plans in which countries using the
single currency would provide aid worth between 20 billion and 25
billion euros for debt-laden Greece. The ministry declined to
comment on the report. []
The euro has lost nearly 5 percent against the dollar since
the start of the year as concerns about the fiscal health of
Greece and some other euro zone countries intensified.
Currency speculators raised net euro short positions to a
record high in the week ended Feb. 16, and traders say any bounce
in the single currency is merely positioning adjustments.
In contrast, long bets on the dollar rose to their highest
levels since the week of Sept. 23, 2008, according to the
Commodity Futures Trading Commission released on Friday.
[].
The pound <GBP=D4> was up 0.1 percent at $1.5486 but remained
under pressure, hovering just above a nine-month low of $1.5345
struck on Friday after a surprisingly big fall in British retail
sales. []
(Additional reporting by Anirban Nag in Sydney and Masayuki
Kitano; Editing by Joseph Radford)
