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The euro struck another record high against the dollar in Asian trade on Wednesday on growing concerns that the world's largest economy is losing steam, dealers said.They said that another batch of sluggish data had sparked renewed speculation about possible further US interest rate cuts.The euro reached 1.4162 dollars in early Tokyo trade, the highest level since its introduction in January 1999.By mid-afternoon it stood at 1.4146 dollars, up from 1.4135 in New York late on Tuesday.The dollar rose to 114.79 yen from 114.77 while the euro eased to 162.40 yen from 162.43.The greenback stumbled in overseas trade as markets reacted to news that US consumer confidence slid to a near two-year low in September while sales of existing homes declined 4.3 percent in August.The figures fanned jitters about the impact on the world's largest economy of rising defaults in subprime mortgages to Americans with patchy credit histories, dealers said."Market sentiment toward the dollar is still very weak and overall trend is to sell the greenback," said Marito Ueda, a currency trader at FX Prime."The weak data overnight causes concern that the subprime housing loan problem might resurface," he said.The Conference Board of the US said its consumer confidence index fell to 99.8 this month, down from a revised 105.6 in August.The confidence reading was sharply below Wall Street forecasts of 104.5 and was at its lowest level since November 2005.The ailing US property market also got more bad news as an industry report showed existing home sales fell 4.3 percent in August and that the glut of unsold properties rose further.The figures stoked market speculation about possible further cuts in US interest rates by the Federal Reserve, which last week slashed its benchmark rate by half a point to 4.75 percent, dealers said."Mounting expectations for additional rate cuts and lingering uncertainty about the depth of the US subprime loan problems are likely to continue to weaken the appetite for the dollar," said Mizuho Corporate Bank foreign exchange dealer Shuichi Kanehira.The yen showed little reaction to the formation of Japan's new government after new Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda kept the existing team of top economy and finance ministers."If the new cabinet can restore some stability in the Japanese political scene, the yen will not become a target of selling. But the latest change in power is largely neutral," Kanehira said.Traders will be keeping a close eye on Japan's inflation, unemployment and other data due on Friday to judge whether the Bank of Japan will raise its super-low interest rates from 0.5 %.In one piece of bright news on Asia's largest economy, the government said Wednesday that Japan's trade surplus nearly quadrupled in August thanks to fast-growing exports to the rest of Asia and Europe.The dollar fell to 1.4984 Singapore dollars from 1.5004 a day earlier, to 32.93 Taiwan dollars from 32.95, to 45.21 Philippine pesos from 45.32, and to 9,137.50 Indonesian rupiah from 9,157.It rose 921.00 South Korean won from 920.90 and to 31.92 Thai baht from 31.81.As in the days of Noah....
