* Euro hits 14-mth high vs dlr on report, but trading quiet
* Euro comfortably above $1.50
* Dollar fall limited by spec market positioning
(Updates prices, adds comment)
By Jessica Mortimer
LONDON, Oct 26 (Reuters) - The dollar slipped on Monday,
hitting a 14-month low against the euro following a Chinese
report saying Beijing should increase its holdings of euros and
yen in its foreign reserves.
On an otherwise quiet day, investors jumped on the report as
an excuse to sell the dollar, though analysts its losses were
capped by stretched market positioning against the U.S. currency
that suggests it has limited scope for further large falls.
"With this a very sensitive and topical issue for the
dollar, the euro has retained its position comfortably above the
$1.50 level," said Jane Foley, research director at FOREX.com in
London.
The story out of China was an opinion piece in the Financial
News, a paper published by the People's Bank of China, which
said the dollar should remain the principal currency in China's
foreign exchange reserves but that the share of euros and yen
should increase. []
At 1200 GMT, the euro was up 0.2 percent at $1.5029 <EUR=>,
having earlier risen as high as $1.5064 on trading platform EBS,
its highest since August 2008.
The dollar index <.DXY>, a gauge of the greenback's
performance against six other major currencies, was down 0.15
percent at 75.352, moving back towards a 14-month low of 74.940
touched last week.
Data on Friday showed currency speculators increased bets
against the dollar, with the value of the dollar's net short
position rising to $18.65 billion in the week ending Oct 20 from
a $17.99 billion net short the prior week. []
"The issue of reserve diversification has been an ongoing
topic for quite a while, while the other reason the dollar is
not selling off more sharply is that the market is already very
short dollars and there is only a certain extent that people
want to be short," said Michael Klawitter, senior currency
strategist at Commerzbank in Frankfurt.
Against the yen, the dollar fell 0.2 percent to 91.85 yen
<JPY=>, retreating from a one-month high of 92.23 yen hit on EBS
earlier in the day.
The Australian dollar <AUD=D4> also firmed, getting a boost
from the China story, with analysts noting many investors
believe it has been included in the currencies that China and
other central banks have bought to diversify reserves.
The New Zealand dollar underperformed, however, trading flat
on the day at $0.7542 <NZD=D4> after the country's Prime
Minister John Key said New Zealand is concerned over the
strength of its currency, but has few tools at its disposal to
deal with it. []
Sterling <GBP=D4> edged up 0.2 percent to $1.6334, but it
stayed not far from an earlier one-week low of $1.6251,
remaining under pressure after data on Friday showed the UK
economy unexpectedly contracted in the third quarter.
Monday is a quiet day for economic data and focus is likely
to centre on events later in the week, including U.S. gross
domestic product data for the third quarter and interest rate
decisions in Norway and New Zealand.
Figures earlier on Monday unexpectedly revealed German
consumer sentiment declined for the first time in just over a
year going into November. []
(Reporting by Jessica Mortimer; Editing by Victoria Main)
