* US dollar lifted by inflation, manufacturing data
* Greece debt woes weigh on euro
* Euro/dollar may be headed to $1.4280
(Adds comments, details. Updates prices)
By Vivianne Rodrigues
NEW YORK, Jan 15 (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar rose broadly
on Friday helped by data showing a rise in manufacturing and
stable consumer price inflation, while concerns about the
struggling Greek economy weighed on the euro.
Market confidence in Greece has fallen as its deficit has
ballooned and credit ratings have been cut, hurting the euro.
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"What is really crushing the euro is additional concern
about the serviceability of the massive amount of debt rung up
in Greece," said Dan Cook, a senior market analyst at IG
Markets, in Chicago.
Until the issue is solved "we will likely see a lot of
selling pressure on the euro," he added.
In the U.S., analysts noted the string of reports released
on Friday were mostly in line with expectations, showing some
improvement in a regional manufacturing indicator and tame
consumer prices. Meanwhile, a measure of U.S. consumer
sentiment was little changed in early January.
Still, the data may help pave the way for further gains in
the dollar, they said.
For details on the reports, please see [],
[] [] and [].
"It's not a surprise to see better-than-expected
manufacturing data. A point of this recovery, outside of fiscal
stimulus, is that the U.S. manufacturing sector is already on
the rebound," said Michael Woolfolk, a senior currency
strategist at BNY Mellon in New York.
He said euro/dollar may trade as low as $1.4280 in the
coming days.
In late morning trading in New York, the euro declined 1
percent to $1.4357 <EUR=>, a session low, according to Reuters
data.
Matthew Strauss, a senior currency strategist at RBC
Capital Markets in Toronto said the sentiment on euro/dollar is
bearish and that a recent break below $1.4450 was "quite
important."
"We will probably continue to see euro/dollar slowly
drifting lower," he said.
The euro also fell versus sterling <EURGBP=D4>, to hit a
four-month low earlier of 88.11 pence. And it was 1.2 percent
lower at 130.61 yen <EURJPY=>.
MERKEL RUMOUR
The single European currency had fallen sharply in Asia, on
rumours, later denied, that German Chancellor Angela Merkel
would resign. These followed the publication of a Time magazine
report about her domestic political problems. []
The dollar <JPY=> fell to 90.61 yen earlier, its lowest in
nearly four weeks, as the yen gained broadly on the back of a
slide in higher-yielding currencies, which suffered from
investors cutting back risky positions.
The dollar was last 0.2 percent lower at 90.91 yen.
The Australian and the New Zealand dollars fell against the
their U.S. counterpart and versus the euro.
(Additional reporting by Steven C. Johnson and Wanfeng Zhou
in New York and Neal Armstrong in London)
