* Sterling hits 6-week low of $1.5611 * Stop-loss sell orders hit on break of February low at $1.5644 * Dollar strength after US jobs data gathers momentum By Neal Armstrong LONDON, March 12 (Reuters) - Sterling fell to its lowest in over six weeks versus a firmer dollar on Monday after strong U.S. employment data boosted the greenback and forced stop-loss sell orders to be triggered in the pound, adding weight to a bearish technical outlook. An absence of UK data on Monday meant sterling's direction was driven largely by external factors. The dollar index hit its highest in over six weeks after Friday's U.S. data was seen reducing the chance of more monetary stimulus from the Federal Reserve. Sterling fell to $1.5611, its lowest since January 25, to trade with losses of around 0.4 percent for the day before recovering a touch to $1.5639. Traders said stop-loss sell orders were hit on the break of the February low of $1.5644. "This is a dollar move rather than a sterling move. We're entering a new regime where better U.S. data is dollar positive and structurally it can keep outperforming," said Geoff Kendrick, fx strategist at Nomura. Traders reported demand for sterling on the approach to $1.5600, with technical support seen at $1.5614, the 50 percent retracement of sterling's rally from January to February. "The dollar looks like it can maintain its resilience with the Fed unlikely to pursue additional monetary stimulus and the euro zone's woes keeping it in favour on safe-haven demand," said Jeremy Stretch, head of currency strategy at CIBC. Latest IMM data showed speculators have increased short positions in the pound in favour of the dollar. Technical analysts also said sterling's outlook was becoming increasingly bearish. "The GBPUSD market is struggling to make gains and is finding selling a lot easier to maintain," said Commerzbank in a note, targeting a sterling fall to $1.5280. The economic outlook in the UK remains uncertain, with soft industrial production data on Friday adding to investors' reluctance to hold sterling. The Bank of England left interest rates on hold and kept its quantitative easing target at 325 billion pounds last week after February's Monetary Policy Committee meeting showed growing internal divisions over whether more asset purchases are needed to support growth. Bank of England policymaker Paul Fisher is due to address the Warwick Alumni Group in London on at 1915 GMT. The euro traded with gains of around 0.2 percent for the day at 83.85 pence, pushing towards the top-end of this month's 83.13-83.99 range. The euro was likely to struggle on concerns that Portugal could be the next domino to fall in the troubled peripheral euro zone debt markets after Greece secured a debt swap on Thursday to avert a disorderly default. "The euro fundamentals are weak which should see a marginal bid for gilts at the expense of euro zone debt and put pressure on euro/sterling, which I think is close to a sell here," said Kendrick. (Editing by Ron Askew)

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