January 24, 2003	Friday	Ziqa’ad 20, 1423

LONDON, Jan 23: The euro rose to its highest in three years against the dollar on Thursday, knocking the greenback down on other fronts as the single currency’s rally gained strength, even in absence of fresh geopolitical impetus.

The euro has made strong gains against the dollar and other currencies this year, as worries of a costly U.S.-led war on Iraq have given the single currency new safe-haven status.

But dealers said the euro’s ability to break higher through tough resistance at $1.0750 on Thursday showed its advance was building its own momentum, even without new headlines on Iraq to undermine the dollar.

It’s definitely not news-driven and the interesting thing is also that we’ve not heard the word “Iraq” mentioned all morning, said Nick Parsons, currency strategist at Commerzbank.

It’s more of a euro move than a dollar move, but those who had tried to go long of dollars this morning just on the back of the stronger S&P (futures index) and the belief that the momentum was fading are getting stopped out now.

The euro peaked at $1.0768 in European trade — its highest since October 1999.—Reuters