* Risk appetite rises, dollar broadly lower
* Swiss franc falls, market nervous about intervention
* U.S. Treasury auction has no impact
(Updates prices, details)
NEW YORK, June 25 (Reuters) - The dollar fell against most
major currencies on Thursday, tracking a change in U.S.
stocks, which rose as investors expressed optimism that
economic deterioration was ebbing.
The U.S. stock market's rally on improved risk appetite
reduced the dollar's safe-haven bid, which had earlier been
sparked by an unexpected rise in U.S. jobless claims data.
The Swiss franc was volatile for a second straight day,
earlier falling against both the euro and dollar as traders
cited more talk of the Swiss National Bank selling francs for
euros and dollars, possibly via the Bank for International
Settlements. Both the SNB and BIS declined to comment. See
[].
"It appears the dollar is tracking the change in equity
prices," said Michael Woolfolk, senior currency strategist at
Bank of New York-Mellon.
In late afternoon New York trading, the ICE Futures' U.S.
dollar index, which tracks the value of the greenback against
a basket of six major currencies, was down 0.3 percent at
80.344 <.DXY>, but still off a roughly two-week low of 79.562
touched on Wednesday.
The euro <EUR=> was up 0.5 percent at $1.3991, after
hitting a two-week high of $1.4138 on Wednesday in the run-up
to the Fed meeting, according to Reuters data.
But against Japan's yen, the dollar rose about 0.2 percent
to 95.87 yen <JPY=EBS> on electronic trading platform.
Government data showed on Thursday the number of U.S.
workers filing new claims for jobless benefits unexpectedly
rose last week, while the number staying on the rolls also
edged higher. []. While that affected trading
earlier in the day, the 2 percent jump by the three major U.S.
stock indexes later in the session soon outweighed the data.
EURO AND SWISS FRANC
The euro still traded in a narrow range against the
dollar, and held below the two-week high hit on Wednesday as
the market digested the impact of the European Central Bank's
massive injection of one-year funds into money markets.
The ECB poured 442 billion euros of one-year funds into
money markets on Wednesday with a record 1,121 banks taking up
the offer.
Earlier, the euro jumped, reaching as high as 1.5382 Swiss
francs, while the dollar hit a session high of around 1.1020
francs. The euro was last at 1.5313 francs <EURCHF=EBS>, while
the dollar bought 1.0945 francs <CHF=EBS>.
Market participants remained jittery about possible
intervention by the Swiss National Bank to weaken its domestic
currency. The SNB repeatedly intervened on Wednesday,
according to traders, giving a stark reminder that it is
determined to fight deflation risks by preventing a rise in
the Swiss franc.
"In the wake of yesterday, people were always going to be
nervous, and we're in thinner summer markets and that always
leaves potential for rumors or nerves to afflict markets,"
said Jeremy Stretch, strategist at Rabobank in London. In
other trading, sterling fell on caution about Britain's
economic outlook. []
Sterling was down 0.3 percent at 1.6371, according to
Reuters data. <GBP=D4>
While there was no impact on foreign exchange markets, in
other news, the U.S. Federal Reserve on Thursday extended a
number of its emergency funding facilities and swap lines with
central banks around the world to Feb. 1, 2010, saying that
while conditions in financial markets have improved recently,
some markets remain impaired and seem "likely to be strained
for some time." []
The week's final U.S. Treasury note auction also failed to
have any impact on foreign exchange markets.
(Reporting by Nick Olivari and Wanfeng Zhou; Editing by Jan
Paschal)
