Dec. 27 (Bloomberg) -- The Dollar Index slipped before reports forecast to show U.S. consumer confidence and regional manufacturing gauges rose, reducing demand for haven assets. The 17-member euro was little changed against the dollar before Italy sells bills and bonds this week as concern lingered that Europe's debt crisis will drive up borrowing costs. The Swiss franc and the yen appreciated against the greenback. Thailand's baht weakened as investors reduced holdings of the nation's assets. Risk-on sentiment "seems to be the side of least resistance for the moment," said John Hardy, head of foreign- exchange strategy at Saxo Bank A/S in London. "The surprise side could be higher for euro-dollar, specifically because of heavy short positioning there. That might depend on the Italian bond auctions." The Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against the currencies of six U.S. trading partners, fell almost 0.1 percent to 79.857 at 7:50 a.m. New York time, having slid 0.2 percent last week. The euro was at $1.3063 and traded little changed at 101.73 yen. The dollar depreciated 0.1 percent to 77.87 yen. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index declined 0.2 percent after the Standard & Poor's 500 Index posted a 3.7 percent jump last week. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index was little changed today. The dollar has depreciated 1.2 percent in the past month, according to Bloomberg Correlation-Weighted Indexes, which tracks 10 developed-nation currencies. The Australian dollar advanced 3.9 percent, the most among the 10, the indexes show. Consumer Confidence An index of consumer confidence in the U.S. rose to 58.6 this month from 56 in November, according to the median estimate of 61 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. The New York-based Conference Board publishes the figures today. The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond may say the overall business activity index for the central-Atlantic region climbed to 5 in December from 0 last month, economists said. Manufacturing in Texas increased to 4.5 this month from 3.2 in November, another survey showed. Both Fed reports are due today. "The U.S. economy is stronger than expected," said Junichi Ishikawa, a Tokyo-based market analyst at IG Markets Securities Ltd. "That's giving some support to stocks and risk currencies. The dollar tends to be sold in the risk-on environment." The dollar fell about 0.1 percent against the pound to $1.5644. Against the franc, the greenback weakened 0.2 percent to 93.44 centimes. Haven Currency A "few" Bank of Japan board members said financial-market turmoil from the European debt crisis and the yen's appreciation were increasing risks for growth, according to a record of last month's board meeting released today. The yen tends to gain during periods of financial stress as Japan's export-reliant economy doesn't need foreign capital to balance current accounts -- the broadest measure of trade. The currency has strengthened against all 16 of its most-traded peers this year, rising 4.2 percent against the dollar and 6.7 percent versus the euro. Japanese officials sold at least 14.3 trillion yen this year to stem gains that cut profits for exporters from Toyota Motor Corp. to Nintendo Co., and Finance Minister Jun Azumi has pledged more action. Intervention in 2012 may fail again as financial turmoil attracts investors to the world's third-most traded currency for its low volatility. 'Avoiding Losses' "When avoiding losses trumps profits during a period of risk aversion, low-volatility assets are very appealing," Masashi Murata, a currency strategist in Tokyo at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co., said in an interview on Dec. 19. "When the U.S. and Europe moved in a bad direction and people wanted to avoid risk, the yen stood as the only currency that had enough liquidity to absorb demand."

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