* Euro at $1.4484 <EUR=>, down 0.2 pct on day
* Yen falls broadly; dn 0.3 pct vs dlr, 0.2 pct vs euro
* Aussie boosted by better-than-expected jobs data
* Focus on U.S. retail sales, earnings
(Recasts, adds quotes, updates prices)
By Tamawa Desai
LONDON, Jan 14 (Reuters) - The euro eased against the dollar
on Thursday but was broadly unmoved after the European Central
Bank kept policy unchanged as expected, while the yen fell as
risk sentiment was buoyed by a robust Australian jobs report.
The ECB kept its main interest rate on hold at a record low
of 1 percent for the eighth month running. It also left its
overnight deposit rate, which acts as a floor for money markets,
at 0.25 percent and its marginal lending rate at 1.75 percent.
[]
The euro was little changed after the decision at $1.4484
<EUR=>, down 0.2 percent on the day, after hitting a one-month
high of $1.4582 on Wednesday, according to Reuters data.
"Risk is on, but selectively. Greek spreads are still
widening out and the market is waiting to see what the ECB
says," said Geoffrey Yu, currency strategist at UBS.
ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet will hold a news
conference at 1330 GMT, with the focus on further clues to the
the central bank's strategy for withdrawing its extraordinary
stimulus for the economy and comments about Greece.
The spread between Greek and German government bonds widened
and Greek credit default swaps hit a record high on Thursday
[] even as the Greek government presented parts of
a three-year plan to slash its budget deficit [].
"A lot of people are very cautious about the fiscal
situation in Greece," said Niels Christensen, currency
strategist at Nordea in Copenhagen.
"This seems to have stopped the uptrend in euro/dollar,
although it's not enough to really hurt the euro."
For a poll on analysts' views on Greece's situation see
[].
The euro was little affected by data showing euro zone
industrial production rose 1.0 percent on month in November,
higher than forecasts for a 0.5 percent increase.
[].
Traders were watching whether the euro would hold above
resistance around $1.4570, a 38.2 percent Fibonacci retracement
of the December high of $1.5142 to the December low of $1.4218.
Next resistance for euro/dollar would be a 50-percent Fibonacci
retracement at $1.4680, they said.
YEN FALLS, AUSSIE GAINS
The yen sagged as investors chased riskier assets, with
European shares climbing after gains in Asia and on Wall Street
overnight. The dollar <JPY=> rose 0.3 percent to 91.67 yen while
the euro gained 0.2 percent to 132.86 yen.
The Australian dollar rose 0.8 percent to 85.19 yen
<AUDJPY=R>. It also hit a two-month high versus the U.S. dollar
after data showed Australia's jobless rate at an eight-month
low, adding to the case for higher interest rates.
[]
The Australian dollar was up 0.5 percent at $0.9289 <AUD=D4>
after hitting $0.9331, close to the 2009 high of $0.9407.
Investors awaited U.S. retail sales for signs of how U.S.
domestic demand fared over the Christmas period, as well as
weekly jobless claims data at 1330 GMT. <ECONUS>
The dollar index <.DXY> edged up 0.1 percent to 76.961 with
support seen at the 100-day moving average near 76.50.
Focus is also on U.S. corporate earnings, with results from
Intel Corp. <INTC.O> and JPMorgan Chase <JPM> due out this week.
Sentiment towards the U.S. dollar was knocked earlier by New
York Federal Reserve Bank President William Dudley and Chicago
Fed President Charles Evans, who said separately the U.S.
central bank would need to be certain the economic recovery was
firmly in place before tightening policy.
(Additional reporting by Jessica Mortimer; Editing by Patrick
Graham)
