AB: FOREX-Dollar rallies, euro slumps on ECB outlook
* Dollar broadly higher as risk appetite remains low
* Uncertainty over ECB policy path weighs on euro
* Moody's puts Ireland's sovereign rating on review
* Swiss franc tumbles after SNB Roth's comments (Updates prices, adds quotes, details)
NEW YORK, April 17 - The U.S. dollar rallied to a one-month high against the euro on Friday after comments by the European Central Bank chief failed to dispel uncertainty about the bank's future policy path.
The dollar was also boosted by a slight rise in risk aversion despite a smaller-than-expected loss from Citigroup as investors reassessed the sustainability of the recent spate of more upbeat results.
In a speech in Tokyo, ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet, who is to unveil the bank's plans for unconventional policy steps next month, gave no details of these measures, saying he did not want to create expectations.
Concerns over a split in the ECB's governing council and uncertainty over the central bank's next move on interest rates and non-standard measures have weighed heavily on the euro in recent sessions.
"The market is getting increasingly disappointed with the ECB's policy stance," said Vassili Serebriakov, currency strategist at Wells Fargo in New York.
"Trichet failed to clarify the central bank's position on either rates or prospects for non-conventional easing measures," he added. "We could see some stand-alone euro weakness across the board."
In midafternoon New York trading, the euro fell 1.1 percent to $1.3041 , after again sliding to $1.3027, according to Reuters data, its weakest since March 18, when the dollar fell sharply after the Federal Reserve announced its plan to buy government bonds.
Besides the Fed, central banks in Britain and Japan have started quantitative easing measures to fight the deepening recession around the world.
The dollar was slightly lower against the yen and last traded down 0.1 percent at 99.16 yen .
"A little bit of risk aversion and euro weakness ... is boosting the dollar," said Paresh Upadhyaya, a portfolio manager at Putnam Investments in Boston.
Despite the better-than-expected results from Citigroup, "the market still remains skeptical about what this means going forward for the financial sector," he said.
