November 24, 2007	Saturday	Ziqa’ad 13, 1428

NEW York, Nov 23: The euro set a record high against the dollar early on Friday, but the key $1.50 level remained out of reach when the currency was knocked more than a cent off its peak by comments from a euro zone policy-maker.

Moves in currencies were exacerbated by thin liquidity following the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States on Thursday and a Japanese market holiday on Friday.

ECB Governing Council member Miguel Angel Fernandez Ordonez said he saw a greater-than-expected economic slowdown in the euro zone and there was not enough data to dispel uncertainty about the effects of financial market turmoil.

Ordonez’s comments reminded investors that the fallout from the credit crisis is not limited to the United States, where the fallout has prompted 75 basis points worth of cuts in the fed funds rate since September and helped send the dollar to record lows.

The comments gave some respite to the dollar, which slid to record lows versus the euro, the Swiss franc and a basket of major currencies earlier on Friday as investors bet that the Federal Reserve will cut rates by at least another 25 basis points next month.—Reuters