Euro makes advances against the US dollar

The euro has pushed past the 94 US cent level for the first time in two weeks.

The euro has pushed past the 94 US cent level for the first time in two weeks.

The euro was trading today at 0.9427 dollars from 0.9367 overnight in New York. Sterling gained a cent to 1.4734 dollars.

The dollar faltered amid fears that steep interest rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve in January may not avert recession in the world's largest economy.

Currencies were reacting to the decision by the US Federal Reserve yesterday to cut interest rates by half a percentage point to 5.5 percent.

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It was the second 50-basis point cut in January and came as data showed US economic growth falling to its slowest rate in five years.

The rate cut was a double-edged sword for the dollar. In the short term it cuts the returns on fixed-income dollar instruments but in the longer run it could help revive equity markets.

But analysts said the US economy in general and equity markets in particular would need more rate cuts in the future to revive confidence and restore growth and predicted more woe for the greenback until this happened.

Federal Reserve Chairman Mr Greenspan's pessimism was confirmed in final-quarter gross domestic product data that showed US economic growth had fallen to an annualised 1.4 per cent - the slowest rate in five years.

AFP