The euro slipped on Tuesday after European Central Bank Governor Jean-Claude Trichet said he shares the view that a strong dollar is in the interest of United States, a comment taken by some market players as showing frustration over the dollar's relentless fall and also an attempt to talk up the currency. The euro fell 0.3 percent to $1.4532, slipping further from a 16-month high of $1.4649 hit last week.
The euro has support at $1.4486, a weekly high hit earlier in April, but more significant support levels are further away. One such support lies at $1.4403, the 50 percent retracement of the euro's rally to $1.4969 from $1.4156. The euro has been rising this year and was seen due for a pull-back. Data from US Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed speculators' long positions in the currency were still near a three-year high on the Chicago futures exchange. Their net euro long position was 62,195 contracts last week, not far from a three-year high of 64,985 contracts hit in the preceding week.
The dollar rose 0.3 percent against a basket of major currencies to 74.190, pulling away from a three-year low of 73.735 hit last week, and also rose against some emerging Asian currencies. The dollar climbed 0.3 percent versus the Indonesian rupiah to 8,650, on track for its biggest one-day percentage rise since late November.
The dollar gained ground against the Australian dollar, which fell 0.3 percent to $1.0691 as commodities faltered, with spot silver tumbling by more than 4 percent at one point after having risen to within a whisker of a 1980 record high the previous day. Against the yen the dollar slipped to a four-week low of 81.56 yen.