FOREX-Dollar snaps four days of gains, but outlook bright

* Graphic: World FX rates in 2019 http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh

By Saikat Chatterjee
LONDON, April 24 (Reuters) - Four days of U.S. dollar gains
ended on Friday, although broader concerns about the euro's
outlook kept dollar bears at bay.
The dollar is still set for its biggest weekly rise since
early April, after a European Union meeting on Thursday to build
a trillion-euro emergency fund disappointed investors.
Despite an agreement by EU leaders to fund a recovery from
the coronavirus pandemic, French President Emmanuel Macron said
differences continued among EU governments over whether the fund
should be transferring grant money, or simply making loans.
"They just delivered on the basics and fell short of
surprising markets positively and that is weighing on the euro,"
said Ilan Solot, a currency markets strategist at Brown Brothers
Harriman in London referring to the EU meeting.
The euro initially weakened on Friday, falling 0.4% against
the U.S. dollar EUR=EBS to a one-month low at $1.07275 and to
a three-year low versus the yen at 115.55 yen EURJPEBS . It
subsequently erased losses and edged into positive territory in
late trading though the outlook remained cautious.
The outcome of the EU meeting reflected the disagreement
about how to resolve the crisis in Europe and prevent an
escalation in peripheral bond yields, said Ulrich Leuchtmann,
head of FX strategy at Commerzbank.
With Italy and Spain hit far harder than Germany by the
coronavirus pandemic, old disputes have surfaced across the EU,
which drop in output of as much as 15%, according to the
European Central Bank.
The dollar's rally this week was aided by a historic
collapse in oil prices LCOc1 , which pushed U.S. crude futures
into negative territory for the first time ever. As oil prices
stabilised, the dollar's safe-haven appeal receded.
Preliminary goods-orders data in the United States and a
German business sentiment survey due later on Friday are
unlikely to improve investors' mood, with any global recovery
expected to be slow and patchy.
The Aussie and kiwi each shed about 0.2%, holding the kiwi
NZD=D3 below 60 cents at $0.5996 and the Aussie AUD=D3 at
$0.6359, beneath resistance around 64 cents per dollar.