Nomura Says Sell the Dollar as Central Banks Reduce Holdings

[Enivid]

The dollar may decline against the euro, undermined by central banks trimming their holdings of the U.S. currency and the Federal Reserve printing money to buy assets, according to Nomura International Plc.

The dollar will probably weaken to $1.50 per euro by year- end, Stephen Hull, a foreign-exchange strategist at Nomura, said in a report yesterday. The greenback was little changed today against the common European currency, trading at $1.3763 as of 12:47 p.m. in London, from $1.3780 yesterday.

“We are becoming more confident on our short dollar call,” Hull, based in London, wrote in the note. “We continue to look for levels to sell dollars.”

Russia decreased the amount of its international reserves held in dollars at the end of 2008, while the share of euros rose, the nation’s central bank said yesterday. Fed officials meeting on April 28-29 may be ready to build on their March plan to buy $300 billion of Treasuries should the economy deteriorate further, minutes of the sessions released yesterday said.

China’s call for a possible alternative global reserve currency may also hurt the dollar, Hull said. People’s Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan urged the International Monetary Fund to expand the role of Special Drawing Rights, used by the IMF to settle accounts among its members, and move toward a “super-sovereign reserve currency.”

From Bloomberg News.