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Dollar takes a fresh drubbing

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The ailing US dollar took a fresh drubbing Friday, briefly slumping to yet another record low against the euro, as traders voiced increasing concern about the fragility of die US economy.
The single European currency jumped to an all-time high of 1.5239 dollars earlier Friday before retreating to 1.5182 dollars at 2200 GMT. down slighdy from 1.5197 late Thursday.
The dollar has been singed in die past week by the euro and odier major currencies as speculators have sold their dollar holdings fearing the world's biggest economy could be on the cusp of a recession which may force die Federal Reserve to cut interest rates further.
The euro smashed through the psychologically important 1.50-dollar barrier on Tuesday for die first time since its creation in 1999 and topped 1.52 dollars for the first time Thursday.
Although the greenback clawed back some ground against an ascendent euro
Friday, it fared less well against odier major currencies.
The dollar was trading at 103.73 yen, down sharply from 105.30 yen late Thursday while the pound was little moved at 1.9889 dollars, compared with 1.9899 dollars a day earlier.
A Commerce Department report showed Friday that US consumer spending increased 0.4 percent last month while personal income rose 0.3 percent.
Both readings were better than anticipated as most ana-lysts had expected spending and income to rise 0.2 percent respectively, but economists said the survey also revealed that Americans' wallets are being increasingly stretched by inflationary pressures.
"Consumers are spending more dollars, but die extra spending is being wiped out by higher prices. After adjusting for inflation, real spending was flat in January, for die second month in a row," said Nigel Gault, an economist at Global Insight.
Economists said the price gains could temper the Federal Reserve's rate-cutting zeal, but
Fed officials have signalled they are more concerned about slowing growth than inflationary risks at present.
As such, many economists expect Fed policymakers to cut the federal funds short term interest rate at a March 18 meeting. Policymakers have slashed the fed funds rate by 225 basis points since September to 3.00 percent in a bid to kickstart flagging economic growth.
"The dollar can't seem to catch a break," said John Kicklighter, a currency analyst at Forex Capital Markets.
"The beleaguered currency marked yet another momentous drop against most of its liquid counterparts, chalking up its biggest three day selloff in four years. And, leading that charge was the euro dollar, which marked a fresh record high for the third consecutive session," Kicklighter said.
The pound gave a mixed performance as economic data continues to show slowing British growth, but the Bank of England was not expected to cut interest rates next Thursday after rate-setters recently stressed inflation worries.