FOREX-Dollar rallies, euro slumps on ECB outlook

                                
 * Dollar broadly higher as risk appetite remains low
                                
 * Uncertainty over ECB policy path weighs on euro
                                
 * Moody's puts Ireland's sovereign rating on review
                                
 * Swiss franc tumbles after SNB Roth's comments
 (Updates prices, adds quotes, details)
                                
 By Nick Olivari 
                                
 NEW YORK, April 17 (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar rallied to a
one-month high against the euro on Friday after comments by the
European Central Bank chief failed to dispel uncertainty about
the bank's future policy path.
                                
 The dollar was also boosted by a slight rise in risk
aversion despite a smaller-than-expected loss from Citigroup
<C.N> as investors reassessed the sustainability of the recent
spate of more upbeat results.
                                
 In a speech in Tokyo, ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet,
who is to unveil the bank's plans for unconventional policy
steps next month, gave no details of these measures, saying he
did not want to create expectations.
                                
 Concerns over a split in the ECB's governing council and
uncertainty over the central bank's next move on interest rates
and non-standard measures have weighed heavily on the euro in
recent sessions.
                                
 "The market is getting increasingly disappointed with the
ECB's policy stance," said Vassili Serebriakov, currency
strategist at Wells Fargo in New York.
                                
 "Trichet failed to clarify the central bank's position on
either rates or prospects for non-conventional easing
measures," he added. "We could see some stand-alone euro
weakness across the board."
                                
 In midafternoon New York trading, the euro fell 1.1 percent
to $1.3041 <EUR=>, after again sliding to $1.3027, according to
Reuters data, its weakest since March 18, when the dollar fell
sharply after the Federal Reserve announced its plan to buy
government bonds.
                                
 Besides the Fed, central banks in Britain and Japan have
started quantitative easing measures to fight the deepening
recession around the world.
                                
 The dollar was slightly lower against the yen and last
traded down 0.1 percent at 99.16 yen <JPY=>.
                                
 "A little bit of risk aversion and euro weakness ... is
boosting the dollar," said Paresh Upadhyaya, a portfolio
manager at Putnam Investments in Boston.
                                
 Despite the better-than-expected results from Citigroup,
"the market still remains skeptical about what this means going
forward for the financial sector," he said.
 (Reporting by Nick Olivari and Wanfeng Zhou; Editing by Dan
Grebler)