The dollar fell on Monday, hitting its lowest in seven weeks on the euro and seven months on the Australian dollar, as investors emboldened by slowing U.S. job losses extended diversification into other currencies. The dollar index .DXY hit a fresh four-month low, following through on a fall on Friday after data showed the U.S. economy shed 539,000 jobs in April, fewer than expected and boosting hopes the worst of the economic slump may be over. Analysts said with several risk events out of the way, such as stress tests for U.S. banks and the jobs numbers, investors seemed more confident, although it was hard to see what there was in the way of near-term events to keep up that momentum. As a result currencies were expected to look to equity markets for now, although Asian stocks were putting in a mixed performance after gains on Wall Street on Friday and S&P futures were down 0.8 percent, indicating a weak U.S. start later. Sharada Selvanathan, currency strategist at BNP Paribas in Hong Kong, said for euro/dollar at least, the shift stemmed more from investors wanting to diversify their holdings as they grew in confidence rather than from any specific euro attraction. "It's an adjustment of positions that is not being favorable to the dollar -- buying other overseas equity markets like Asian and European ones," Selvanathan said. "What you'll see is people adjusting their portfolios -- happy to buy euros, happy to buy a bit of sterling to reposition their portfolios which are probably heavily dollar weighted now." The ICE futures U.S. dollar index, which tracks the dollar versus a basket of six major currencies, dipped to its lowest since early January .DXY after crashing through support from its 200-day moving average on Friday. "There seems to a sea-change at work in terms of general sentiment," said Sue Trinh, senior currency strategist at RBC Capital Markets in Sydney. "It will be an interesting week to see how sustainable that is because there's nothing really in terms of event risk." The euro rose 0.2 percent to $1.3663 after brushing a seven-week high at $1.3670 on trading platform EBS. It climbed 1.7 percent on Friday, helped by a break through its 200-day moving average, a key resistance on the charts. Analysts said buying by funds using trading models had been behind some of the action. The euro was steady at 134.21 yen after briefly hitting a one-month high at 134.80 earlier. The dollar eased 0.2 percent to 98.24 yen. The New Zealand dollar climbed to its highest in six months above $0.6100 and the Australian dollar briefly struck a fresh seven-month peak in early Asian trade at $0.7714 before slipping to $0.7655. Both have gained steeply against the yen this year as currencies seen benefiting once economic activity picks up, particularly in China.

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