March 02, 2007	Friday	Safar 12, 1428

LONDON, March 1: The dollar steadied on Thursday against major currencies, as investors remained on alert following the recent global stock market rout and ahead of fresh data from the United States.

The euro fell to 1.3220 dollars in early European trading, from 1.3231 dollars late in New York on Wednesday.

The dollar weakened to 118.25 yen, from 118.49 yen on Wednesday.

Later Thursday, dealers will digest the Institute of Supply Management's latest reading on US manufacturing activity.

The US unit gained some ground against the euro after US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke had said Wednesday that his economic outlook was unchanged after the stocks rout. Bernanke added that there is really no material change in our expectations for the US economy.

The comments came after his predecessor, Alan Greenspan, had warned Monday that the US economy had been expanding since 2001 and that there were signs that the current economic cycle was coming to an end.

European shares staged a modest recovery Thursday following a fight back by Wall Street overnight, but jitters remained across Asian stock markets, dealers said.—AFP