NEW YORK: The euro gained against the dollar for a fourth straight session on Thursday, a trend seen as tenuous given unresolved fiscal and economic issues in the region and despite initiatives from global central banks.
While the single-currency was buoyed by generally successful Spanish and French debt auctions, traders were inclined to view gains as good selling opportunities.
While Spain sold 3.75 billion euros of three bonds at the top of the targeted range, they were at levels seen as unsustainable for public finances. France also found demand for its sale of 4.35 billion euros of debt in several maturities.
The euro reached a high of $1.3521, according to Reuters data but gains dissipated in early afternoon New York trading as stocks turned mostly negative after Wednesday's record rally.
Investors were said to be consolidating their positions ahead of Friday's all-important US non-farm payrolls report for November.
"We have had some big moves in the euro the last couple of days and a lot of event risks, so the market is taking a little bit of a breather and consolidating their gains before tomorrow's big US employment number," said Steven Butler, director of foreign-exchange trading at Scotia Capital in Toronto.
Investors are looking at 122,000 new jobs added to the US economy last month and a steady unemployment rate of 9.0 percent. A higher-than-expected number could whet risk appetite once again and lift risk-friendly currencies such as the euro.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the European Central Bank is independent and will remain so.
The euro was last up 0.3 percent at $1.3472. A break above $1.3533 could see the euro rise toward its Nov. 18 high of $1.3615, analysts said. If it fails to retest Wednesday's high, however, the rally may peter out.
On Wednesday, the euro had hit a one-week high of $1.35337 on trading platform EBS after central banks of the United States and the euro zone, as well as Canada, Britain, Japan and Switzerland cut the cost of dollar loans to the banking system.
Although investors cheered Wednesday's joint central bank action, they are worried that the debt crisis remains unresolved, with little time for politicians to find a solution.
European Central Bank President Mario Draghi signaled it stood ready to act more aggressively to fight Europe's debt crisis if political leaders agree next week on much tighter budget controls in the 17-nation euro zone. He also painted a dark picture of the state of the banking system.
Draghi, however, did not spell out what action the ECB might take.
The ECB is under huge political and market pressure to massively step up purchases of euro zone government bonds or lend money to the IMF to support ailing Italy and Spain.
An increase in the Institute for Supply Management's US manufacturing index fueled the market's appetite for risk and reinforced the view that the world's largest economy is on a stable path to recovery.
The dollar index was last down 0.1 percent at 78.292, though off the 77.923 low hit on Wednesday. Against the yen, the dollar was up 0.2 percent at 77.64.
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