* Euro falls to 11-day low vs dollar, 2-week low vs yen
* Newspaper says Greece had asked IMF/EU to restructure debt
* Finnish vote result sparks uncertainty on Portugal bailout
* Euro heads into key support at $1.4250-80
(Updates prices, adds detail)
By Jessica Mortimer
LONDON, April 18 (Reuters) - The euro fell broadly in thin
trade on Monday, testing an area of key support against the
dollar on increased talk that Greece will be forced to
restructure its debt and uncertainty over a bailout for
Portugal.
The euro <EUR=> fell to an 11-day low around $1.4274, down
over one percent on the day, though traders expected further
losses to be restricted by demand from central banks looking to
recycle dollar proceeds.
The single currency's falls gathered pace after German
government sources said they expected Greece will not make it
through the summer without debt restructuring []
"The market is clearly sceptical about Greece, plus there is
uncertainty from the Finnish elections, but there is still a lot
of sovereign demand for euros on pullbacks and it remains a buy
on dips," said Gavin Friend, currency strategist at nabCapital.
Earlier a Greek newspaper reported that Greece had told the
IMF and the European Union earlier this month that it wants to
restructure its debt, though it pared losses as a finance
ministry source in Athens said the story was untrue.
[]
Players are watching Portugal's progress towards a bailout
closely after strong gains in a weekend election by an anti-euro
party in Finland that has vowed to veto its rescue package.
[]
Analysts doubted the Finnish vote could do more than slow
down a bailout but the result of the vote added to negative euro
sentiment, encouraging investors to cut long euro positions.
POSITIONING
Net euro long positions rose to their highest since December
2007 in the week to April 12, data from the Commodity and
Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) showed. []
"Euro positions are not particularly extended compared to
Australian dollar or Canadian dollar positions ... But the euro
has obvious event risk involved in the EU periphery news, which
continues to throw up negative headlines," Lloyds analysts said
in a note.
The euro was last at $1.4280. It has support in the $1.4270
area from a trendline drawn from the year's low in January and
at its 21-day moving average at $1.4267 which it has held for
the past two months.
Additional support was seen at $1.4263, the 23.6 percent
retracement of the euro's February to April rally and $1.4104
the 38.2 percent retracement of the same move.
Sovereign demand was reported down to $1.4250, while
previous support at the April 6 high of $1.4350 was now seen as
resistance.
Traders and analysts said investors may be inclined to pare
dollar short positions ahead of the long Easter weekend. A lack
of liquidity into the holidays was said to be exacerbating
currency moves.
The euro fell more than 1 percent to its lowest in more than
two weeks to around 118.25 yen <EURJPY=R>, taking it below its
21-day moving average at 118.55.
"The focus is turning towards the Greek situation and is
acting as a dampener on the euro," said Mic Ingenuus, currency
strategist at Nordea in Copenhagen. "It would be the first
restructuring and the market has no idea when or whether it will
happen."
Euro/yen fell below a cluster of support in the 119.20 yen
to 119.30 yen area that coincides with some intraday lows hit
earlier in April. A trader for a Japanese bank said the euro
could drop towards 115 yen in the near term.
The dollar also hit its lowest in more than two weeks
around 82.63 yen <JPY=>. The euro's broad fall pushed the dollar
index up 0.6 percent at 75.281 <.DXY>.
The euro's rise has stalled since it hit a 15-month high of
$1.4521 on trading platform EBS last week, though market players
expect it to be supported by prospects of another rise in euro
zone interest rates.
(Additional reporting by Neal Armstrong; Editing by Patrick
Graham)
