LONDON — The dollar rose against the euro on Thursday after European economic and monetary affairs commissioner Joaquin Almunia said the Eurogroup would discuss the single currency's strength this week. The European single currency fell to 1.4576 dollars from 1.4667 dollars late in New York on Wednesday. Against the Japanese currency, the dollar rose to 90.05 yen from 89.66 yen on Wednesday. Dow Jones Newswires reported on Thursday that Almunia had said that the euro's recent appreciation against rival currencies would be discussed by the Eurogroup before an upcoming G7 meeting. "The euro slipped back as Joaquin Almunia announced that the eurogroup will discuss the euro's strength ahead of the next G7 meeting this weekend in Istanbul," said ECU Group analyst Kit Juckes. "There is clear resistance building in both Japan and Europe to further dollar weakness. "In Europe, this growth disparity is much more of a concern to the politicians in Brussels than it is to the ECB." He added: "With some of the most recent economic data indicating a slower pace of recovery in September, I wonder whether this change of tone from policy-makers could trigger a recovery by the US dollar?" Group of Seven (G7) finance chiefs will meet October 3 in Istanbul ahead of the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. On Thursday meanwhile, traders also digested better-than-expected US output data on the eve of key American jobs data. The foreign exchange market also absorbed news that eurozone unemployment rose slightly in August from the July level. The dollar had fallen on Wednesday following reports from the United States giving a mixed picture of the economic recovery. Data showed the US economy apparently emerging from recession along with worse-than-expected employment figures. Revised data revealed a smaller-than-expected 0.7 percent pace of output decline. That figure was better than last month's estimate of a 1.0 percent drop and stronger than the average estimate of private economists for a 1.2 percent annualized rate of decline. The report appeared to confirm that the world's biggest economy was emerging from its long recession and rebounding from a hefty 6.4 percent tumble in the first quarter of 2009. A better picture of economic momentum comes in Friday's report on US payrolls and unemployment. The report is expected to show another 180,000 job losses and an unemployment rate climbing from 9.7 to 9.9 percent. Elsewhere on Thursday, the yen weakened as a survey of corporate Japan highlighted the patchy nature of the country's economic recovery, dealers said. Institutional investors were selling the Japanese currency to invest overseas at the start of the fourth quarter, they added. In London on Thursday, the euro was changing hands at 1.4576 dollars against 1.4667 dollars late on Wednesday, at 131.37 yen (131.28), 0.9151 pounds (0.9156) and 1.5187 Swiss francs (1.5164). The dollar stood at 90.05 yen (89.66) and 1.0409 Swiss francs (1.0359). The pound was at 1.5943 dollars (1.5981). On the London Bullion Market, the price of gold climbed to 1,006.83 dollars an ounce from 995.75 dollars an ounce late on Wednesday.

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