LONDON - The dollar rose against the euro but fell against the yen on Monday after world finance chiefs voiced growing concern over the weekend about the US currency's recent slide, dealers said.
In early European trading, the euro weakened to 1.5777 dollars from 1.5805 in New York late on Friday.
Against the Japanese currency, the dollar fell to 100.84 yen from 100.93 on Friday.
The Group of Seven (G7) rich nations surprised the market by abandoning their usual language on foreign exchange in their joint communique which followed a weekend meeting in Washington.
They expressed worry over the weekend that sharp swings in major currencies could undermine the stability of the global economy and markets but investors doubted the G7 could intervene to arrest volatility in the currency market.
"The US dollar is moderately higher, with most of the major currencies weaker after the G7 statement expressed concerns over swings in foreign exchange markets," said ABN Amro analyst Melinda Smith.
"The joint statement was more pointed than past statements on volatility."
Finance ministers and central bankers from the G7 nations said in their closing statement that "there have been at times sharp fluctuations in major currencies" since they last met in February.
"We are concerned about their possible implications for economic and financial stability," they added.
Traders said the remarks signalled that the G7 countries were increasingly worried about the dollar's recent slump to record lows against the euro and a 12-year trough against the yen, as well as the British pound's recent decline.
"The consensus interpretation of the changes to the G7 statement ... is that they reflect increasing concern within the G7 about the weakness of the dollar," added Barclays Capital anlayst David Forrester.
"Despite the change in language, we continue to believe that coordinated (foreign exchange) intervention is unlikely."
In recent weeks and months, the greenback has tumbled against rival currencies owing to unfavourable interest rate differentials and a stream of negative data on the United States economy, dealers said.
The euro had hit a record high 1.5913 dollars last Thursday after the European Central Bank left eurozone interest rates unchanged at 4.0 percent, where they have stood since last June.
The US Federal Reserve, meanwhile, has chopped three percentage points off short-term US borrowing costs since September.
On Monday, the euro was dampened by news that factories and refineries in the 15-nation eurozone ratcheted down their production growth in February, according to official EU data.
Industrial output in the euro countries grew 0.3 percent over one month and 3.1 over one year, the European Union's Eurostat data agency said in a first estimate.
That marked a slowdown from January when the output rose 0.7 over one month and grew 3.3 percent over one year, according to Eurostat, revising downwards slightly previous estimates.
In London on Monday, the euro changed hands at 1.5777 dollars against 1.5805 late on Friday, at 159.12 yen (159.55), 0.8002 pounds (0.8030) and 1.5803 Swiss francs (1.5822).
The dollar stood at 100.84 yen (100.93) and 1.0015 Swiss francs (1.0008).
The pound was at 1.9717 dollars (1.9690).
On the London Bullion Market, the price of gold sank to 916.45 dollars per ounce from 927.75 dollars late on Friday.
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04/14/2008 11:04 GMT