* Dollar index dips below support near 81.44
* Aussie rises, yen slips as regional shares climb
* Sterling touches 5-mth high vs dollar
By Masayuki Kitano
TOKYO, Aug 2 (Reuters) - The high-yielding Australian dollar
rose on Monday helped by a rise in equities, while the dollar
hit a three-month low against a basket of currencies, hurt by
persistent worries that the U.S. economy's recovery is losing
steam.
The dollar has been hobbled by concerns over the U.S.
economy after a series of recent economic data undershot market
expectations, and its slide has been exacerbated by some bearish
signals on technical charts.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback's value
against a basket of currencies, hit a three-month low of 81.400
<.DXY>, dipping below support near 81.44, which is roughly a 50
percent retracement of its November to June rally.
The outlook for the dollar index turned bearish in early
July on daily Ichimoku charts, a form of technical analysis
particularly popular among Japanese traders, and its next
support lies at the 200-day moving average at 80.701.
"For now, I think the overall trend of dollar weakness still
remains in place," said a trader for a European bank.
Sterling briefly touched a five-month high of $1.5735
<GBP=D4> in early Asian trade on Monday.
The euro edged up 0.3 percent from late U.S. trading on
Friday to $1.3085 <EUR=>, edging back towards a three-month high
of $1.3107 marked last week. One trader cited talk of relatively
large stop-loss bids in the euro in the $1.3120 to $1.3150
region.
AUSSIE RISES, YEN SLIPS
The dollar also fell against the high-yielding Australian
and New Zealand dollars, with the Australian dollar hitting a
three-month peak at $0.9108 <AUD=D4>.
After trimming some gains, the Australian dollar was 0.6
percent higher compared with late U.S. trading on Friday at
$0.9095.
"U.S. interest rates have been falling, which is leading to
reflation trade and helping to boost commodity prices. So it
makes sense to buy commodity-linked currencies like the Aussie
dollar," said Hideki Amikura, forex manager at Nomura Trust and
Banking.
Higher Asian equities helped lift the Australian dollar,
market players also said. MSCI's broad measure of Asia-Pacific
shares outside Japan rose 1.6 percent <.MIAPJ0000PUS>.
"It's a very typical pattern we see when investor risk
appetite is improving, with the yen and the dollar weakening,
while the Australian and New Zealand dollars strengthen," said
Junya Tanase, chief FX strategist for JPMorgan Chase Bank in
Tokyo.
High-yielding currencies such as the Australian dollar tend
to benefit when investor risk appetite rises, while funding
currencies such as the low-yielding yen and dollar tend to fall.
The yen slipped broadly and pulled back a bit from an
eight-month high versus the dollar hit late last week.
The dollar edged up 0.1 percent to 86.52 yen <JPY=>. On
Friday, the dollar struck an eight-month low of 85.95 yen on
trading platform EBS after U.S. second-quarter gross domestic
product (GDP) data showed U.S. growth slowed to a 2.4 percent
annual rate in the second quarter.
A drop below 84.82 yen on trading platform EBS would take
the greenback to its lowest in 15 years against the yen.
With the yen still hovering near last week's eight-month
peak against the dollar and getting close to a 15-year peak,
Japanese Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda said on Monday that
excessive currency moves are undesirable and can have a negative
impact on the economy. []
Market players have said they do not seriously expect
Japanese authorities to intervene to stem yen strength until it
rises to 15-year highs.
Japanese authorities will likely turn to further Bank of
Japan liquidity provision steps or monetary easing before
considering any yen-selling intervention, which they last
conducted in March 2004, market players said.
Traders and analysts say Japanese authorities may consider
currency intervention only if the yen's rise gains more speed
and Tokyo shares slide. []
(Additional reporting by Charlotte Cooper, Hideyuki Sano and
Reuters FX analyst Rick Lloyd in Singapore; Editing by Joseph
Radford and Chris Gallagher)
