By Kaori Kaneko TOKYO (Reuters) - The dollar fell on Monday after a G20 meeting and U.S. unemployment data did little to alter the view that U.S. rates would stay low for a while, supporting shares and the Australian and New Zealand dollars. The Australian dollar advanced back toward its high for the year, helped by a pick-up in Australian housing finance, while the New Zealand dollar rose after dairy giant Fonterra lifted its forecast payout to farmers. The euro also edged toward the year's high against the greenback, which dropped to its lowest in two weeks against a basket of currencies, dented by the view that low interest rates meant it would continue to be a funding currency for higher-yielding trades. Some dealers cited an IMF report as also weighing on the dollar, although others said this was just an excuse to sell the greenback. The report said that while the dollar had depreciated in recent months, it still remained on the "strong" side. See r.reuters.com/kyp48f . "Although the jobless rate rose to a two-digit number, U.S. stocks and other risk assets held relatively well. Together with the IMF report, the dollar came back under selling pressure," said a trader at a Japanese bank. After a week of central bank meetings, including the Federal Reserve, a gathering of Group of 20 finance officials at the weekend ended without the countries taking any concrete action to rebalance global flows or talk more specifically about the dollar's recent decline. "Now that a series of major economic events is over, relief has prevailed among investors that it's OK to sell the dollar," the trader said. The dollar index fell 0.6 percent .DXY to 75.390, while the euro rose 0.6 percent to $1.4932, coming back within sight of last month's 2009 high at $1.5064. Sterling also gained, rising to its highest in two months to $1.6724. The dollar and the yen had risen on Friday after the U.S. unemployment rate jumped to a 26- year high of 10.2 percent. U.S. RATES SEEN STAYING LOW But Asian stocks had a positive tone on Monday, gaining on the view that while the data wasn't great, stimulus measures and low interest rates would remain in place for a while. "The numbers mean the Fed will keep rates low for some time to come and U.S. dollar will be the preferred currency for carry trades," said Jonathan Cavanagh, currency strategist at Westpac. The head of the Federal Reserve's St Louis branch, James Bullard, told the Financial Times that he did not favor tightening until the recovery was well-established and suggested rates could stay near zero for all of next year. The Australian dollar climbed as far as $0.9271, not far off October's 2009 high of $0.9330, after data showed owner-occupied housing finance rose 5.1 percent in September from the previous month, beating Reuters' poll of a 3.0 percent rise.

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