NEW YORK (Bloomberg) — The dollar fell for a fifth week against the euro, matching a losing streak that ended in December 2008, as traders speculated the Federal Reserve will further ease monetary policy, debasing the greenback.

The US currency dropped this week to a 15-year low against the yen and fell to parity with the Australian and Canadian dollars before next week's Fed report on regional economies. Asian currencies rallied against the dollar as Singapore sought faster currency appreciation, pulling back from efforts to stem gains.

"There's a bit of push and pull in dollar weakness: the push has been revolving around quantitative easing, and the pull has been the attractiveness of emerging-market currencies," said Alan Ruskin, global head of Group of 10 foreign-exchange strategy at Deutsche Bank AG in New York.

The dollar fell 0.3 percent to $1.3977 per euro, from $1.3939 on October 8. It slid to $1.4159 on Friday, the weakest level since January 26. The greenback slid 0.6 percent to 81.45 yen, from 81.93 last week. It touched 80.88 on Friday, the weakest level since April 1995, when it reached the post-World War II low of 79.75 yen. The euro dropped 0.3 percent to 113.88 yen, from 114.19.

The US currency's five weeks of decline against the euro tied a stretch of losses during a period that ended December 26, 2008. The central bank cut its fed funds target that month to a range of zero to 0.25 percent.

Australia's dollar touched $1.0004 on Friday, trading stronger than the greenback for the first time since currency controls ended in 1983. The Aussie appreciated 0.6 percent to 99.07 US cents this week.

Canada's dollar rose to parity on October 14 for the first time since April, touching 99.81 cents versus its US counterpart on speculation the nation's economy will benefit from more purchases of government debt by the Fed, a policy known as quantitative easing. The loonie ended the week up 0.1 percent to C$1.0104 per US dollar.

The Dollar Index, used by IntercontinentalExchange Inc. to track the greenback against currencies including the euro, yen and pound, fell 0.4 percent to 77.041 after touching 76.144 yesterday, the lowest level since December 11.

The gauge of the greenback has dropped 4.2 percent since September 21, when the Fed said in a statement following its policy meeting that it's prepared "to provide additional accommodation if needed" to support the recovery.

Fed chairman Ben Bernanke said on Friday in remarks at a Boston Fed conference that the central bank may expand asset purchases or change the language in its statement, while saying "non-conventional policies" have costs and limitations. "There would appear — all else being equal — to be a case for further action," Bernanke said.

The central bank will release on October 20 its Beige Book survey of regional Fed banks. Last month, the report found the economic rebound showed signs of slowing. Minutes of the Fed's September meeting released on October 12 indicated that policy makers were poised to take more easing steps "before long".

The US consumer price index rose 0.1 percent in September after 0.3 percent gains in the prior two months, the Labor Department reported on Friday. The median forecast of 79 economists in a Bloomberg News survey was for a 0.2 percent increase.