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Dollar falls after China calls for new global currency

NEW YORK (Bloomberg) — The dollar declined the most against the euro in a month last week and dropped versus the yen after China repeated its call for a new global currency.

The Swiss franc declined against the euro and dollar last week as foreign-exchange analysts said the central bank sold its currency three times to support the economy. The greenback fell against most of its major counterparts after the People's Bank of China said yesterday the International Monetary Fund should manage more of members' foreign-exchange reserves.

"The dollar's status as a reserve currency is being questioned," said Benedikt Germanier, a foreign-exchange strategist in Stamford, Connecticut at UBS AG, the second-largest currency trader. "There are reasons to sell the dollar."

The US currency fell 0.9 percent to $1.4056 per euro this week from $1.3937 on June 19, the swiftest depreciation since the five days ended May 29. The dollar fell 1.1 percent to 95.18 yen from 96.27, its third consecutive weekly drop. The euro decreased 0.3 percent to 133.85 yen from 134.18.

Federal Reserve policy makers said on June 24 inflation "will remain subdued for some time" and that the economy warrants an "extended period" of low rates.

The 10-year Treasury yield fell the most since March as investors bet the Fed will keep interest rates close to zero for the rest of the year. The difference in yield, or spread, between two- and 10-year yields decreased this week to 2.43 percentage points, near the narrowest level since May 20.

Brazil's real gained two percent to 1.9363 versus the greenback, its biggest weekly increase in June, as the sale of shares in Visa Inc.'s local credit-card processing affiliate attracted foreign investors to the world's biggest initial public offering in more than a year.

The dollar depreciated 2.6 percent to 7.8926 South African rand and 1.4 percent to 7.8002 Swedish krona as the People's Bank of China said in its 2008 review there's a need for a global reserve currency "delinked from sovereign nations".

The Swiss franc declined against the euro and dollar as strategists said the Swiss National Bank sold its currency twice on June 24 and once more a day later to support the economy. Nicolas Haymoz, an SNB spokesman, declined to comment on June 25 on whether the bank acted in foreign-exchange markets.

"The SNB has to convince markets that it considers a strong franc as unwelcome," Unicredit SpA analysts Armin Mekelburg in Munich and Roberto Mialich in Milan wrote in a report last week. "We fear that franc bulls will start further attempts to wipe out the line in the sand of 1.50."

The franc fell one percent to 1.5230 against the euro and 0.2 percent to 1.0834 compared with the dollar this week. The Swiss currency declined on June 24 to 1.5380 versus the euro, the weakest level since the mid-March period when the SNB said it intervened to weaken the franc.

The ICE's Dollar Index fell below 80 on the call from China for an alternative to the dollar as the world's main reserve currency. The gauge tracking the greenback versus the currencies of six leading trading partners decreased 0.5 percent to 79.90.