* Greece not hopeful of EU aid - Dow Jones
* Euro tumbles after reported Greek comments, long euro cut
* AUD falls from 8-wk high, CAD off 20-mth peak vs dlr
By Satomi Noguchi
TOKYO, March 18 (Reuters) - The euro tumbled broadly on
Thursday after a newswire report saying that Greece is not
hopeful of receiving aid from other euro zone members.
A Greek official quoted in the report said the country was
growing increasingly pessimistic about the prospect of help at a
European Union summit on March 25 and may seek IMF aid during
during the April 2-4 Easter weekend.
Greece has said it was counting on EU leaders to approve an
aid mechanism for the country at the meeting next week as it
battles to deal with crippling debts.
But some countries -- especially Germany, the EU's biggest
paymaster -- are wary of making any concrete promises, and market
participants said the Dow Jones Newsires report suggested a rift
between Greece and Germany may be deepening. []
"Euro selling was sparked after the report. It forced many
investors to dump euro long positions after the recent relative
calm on the Greek debt woes helped some to buy the euro back,"
said a senior trader for a Japanese securities firm.
The euro dropped as far as $1.3667 on trading platform EBS
before stabilising at $1.3678 <EUR=>, down 0.4 percent. It pulled
back further from a five-week high of $1.3819 on EBS the previous
day.
The euro had been struggling as other euro zone nations have
yet to give specific details on how they will help Greece resolve
its financial woes. []
Traders said stop-loss orders around $1.3700 and $1.3680 were
hit, making the euro's fall sharper.
The euro was under broad selling pressure. It fell 0.2
percent against sterling to 89.44 pence <EURGBP=> and slid 0.1
percent versus the Swiss franc to 1.4460 franc <EURCHF=>, a fresh
17-month low.
The dollar rose broadly and recovered some losses made the
previous day against higher-yielding currencies such as the
Aussie, as investors covered short dollar positions.
The greenback had fallen on Wednesday after a benign
inflation reading supported the Federal Reserve's renewed pledge
to keep interest rates near zero for a few more months.
Short-term players trimmed their stretched dollar short
positions against the Canadian dollar which hit a 20-month high
the previous day, helped by higher oil prices.
The Australian dollar fell further from an eight-week peak
the day before as demand for riskier assets decreased after
reported Greek comments.
The Australian dollar fell 0.3 percent to $0.9213 <AUD=D4>,
off an eight-week high of $0.9253 hit the previous day.
Against the Canadian dollar, the greenback rose 0.3 percent
to C$1.0129 <CAD=D4>, rebounding above the C$1.0071 hit on
Wednesday, its lowest since July 2008.
The dollar index, a gauge of the greenback's performance
against six major currencies, rose 0.4 percent to 79.993,
rebounding from a six-week low of 79.507 struck on Wednesday
<.DXY>.
The dollar dropped 0.2 percent to 90.14 yen, remaining below
a three-week high of 91.09 yen hit last week with traders citing
persistent dollar offers around Wednesday's high of 90.72 yen.
The dollar's fall against the yen stemmed from the yen's rise
against the euro which fell 0.5 percent to 123.35 yen <EURJPY=R>.
(Editing by Joseph Radford)
