April 11, 2008	Friday	Rabi-us-Sani 4, 1429

LONDON, April 10: The euro turned weaker against the dollar on Thursday, after earlier soaring to a record high against the greenback, on comments by the head of European Central Bank signalling no imminent hike in eurozone interest rates.

Analysts said the dollar was also boosted by a better-than-expected report on first-time applications for US unemployment benefits. Requests fell 53,000 to 357,000 in the week that ended April 5.

The market had foreseen first-time applications to come to 383,000.

The single European currency in late-day trade was at 1.5747 dollars against 1.5832 late Wednesday in New York. But the euro earlier in the day jumped to a record high 1.5913 dollars, largely on fears for the health of the US economy.

The dollar was meanwhile trading at 101.77 yen, down from 102.43 on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the pound’s performance was mixed after the Bank of England cut its interest rates by a quarter point earlier Thursday, as expected by the markets.

In London on Thursday, the euro changed hands at 1.5847 dollars against 1.5735 late on Wednesday, 160.07 yen (161.22), 0.7973 pounds (0.7985) and 1.5823 Swiss francs (1.5915).

The dollar stood at 100.77 yen (102.43) and 1.0053 Swiss francs (1.0114).

The pound was at 1.9743 dollars (1.9712)..—AFP