* Euro holds some short-covering gains vs dollar
* Dollar gains on yen, Swissie
* But loses out to Aussie on hawkish central bank comment
By Satomi Noguchi
TOKYO, March 29 (Reuters) - The euro stabilised after its
recent pounding, aided by short-covering, while the dollar lost
ground to the Australian and New Zealand dollars in choppy trade
driven largely by order-book cleaning ahead of the quarter-end.
The Swiss franc fell against the dollar and euro as players
took profits on overstretched long franc positions, built up in
recent days to test how far the Swiss central bank would allow it
to rise after it hit record highs on the euro last week.
The euro, which rebounded late on Friday from 10-month lows
as short positions became overstretched, charged above $1.35
early in the Asian session as stops went off in thin trade.
The market had been sitting on record short euro positions,
helping drive the early squeeze higher, but the gains were
shortlived and its downtrend remained intact. []
"It's hard to find meaningful direction in today's trading in
Tokyo before the quarter-end and fiscal year-end," said a senior
trader at a Japanese bank.
The euro was 0.3 percent higher from late U.S. trade on
Friday at $1.3443 <EUR=>. It hit a 10-month low of $1.3267 on
trading platform EBS last week as concerns about fiscal problems
in the euro zone drove selling.
Policy-makers agreed an aid package for Greece last week, but
while the plan is seen as a short-term positive for the euro,
longer-term worries about Greece and other fiscally vulnerable
economies in the region, such as Portugal and Spain, remain.
The dollar index <.DXY>, a measure of its performance against
six major currencies, fell 0.3 percent to 81.447.
It was flat on the day against the Swiss franc at 1.0650
francs <CHF=>, while the euro rose 0.3 percent to 1.4318 francs
<EURCHF=R>.
The dollar's climb against the franc aided the euro's advance
as traders were forced to close short positions in both the
greenback and the European single currency against the franc,
traders said.
The dollar <JPY=> rose 0.1 percent from late New York trade
on Friday to 92.66 yen, erasing earlier losses on selling by
Japanese exporters before the fiscal year-end on Wednesday.
Traders said the market was positioning for an improvement in
monthly U.S. jobs data this week, with a pick-up in the labour
market seen as an important indicator for U.S. rate policy.
"The dollar looks to have room to rise this week with key
U.S. economic data, especially ahead of the payrolls report,
which is expected to show growth and could be symbolic," said
Kosuke Hanao, head of Treasury product sales at HSBC in Tokyo.
The euro had gained over 1 percent Friday, with some
investors rushing to cover short positions in the euro/Australian
dollar <EURAUD=> and euro/yen <EURJPY=R> pairs.
The Australian dollar <AUD=D4> rose 0.4 percent to $0.9078 as
hawkish comments from Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Glenn
Stevens on Monday helped sentiment.
Stevens said interest rates had been too low and could not
remain at previous levels. []
The New Zealand dollar gained to $0.7087 <NZD=D4> from
$0.7015 late on Friday.
(Additional reporting by Anirban Nag in Sydney)
