FOREX-Dollar supported by safety flows; euro at new 2-year low

* Dollar finds broad safe-haven support
* Greenback near multi-week highs versus most major
currencies
* Euro hits fresh two-year low
* Graphic: World FX rates in 2019 http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh

By Tom Westbrook
SINGAPORE, Sept 27 (Reuters) - The dollar stood tall on
Friday, holding near multi-week highs against most major
currencies as heightened risks from political tensions to the
Sino-U.S. trade war increased its safe-haven lustre.
In Asian trade it was steady around 107.75 yen JPY= , near
a one-week peak, and edged higher against the euro EUR= to
$1.0916. The single currency slipped to a fresh two-year low
pressured by an increasingly weak outlook for the euro zone.
The greenback also steadied against the Australian dollar,
near its strongest in three weeks, while it regained some ground
handed to the New Zealand dollar on Thursday.
"The positive U.S. dollar trend, with lots of noise in
between it, remains intact," said Westpac analyst Imre Speizer
in Auckland.
He added that risk aversion driven by trade war fears, a
resilient U.S. economy and increasingly
less-dovish-than-expected language from U.S. Federal Reserve
board members were supporting the greenback.
"There's a bit of political risk thrown in there as well via
the Middle East and Brexit," he said.
The pound wallowed at $1.2325, close to a two-week low hit
on Thursday after the European Union's Brexit negotiator said
Britain had yet to provide "legal and operational" proposals for
an agreement on exiting the bloc. Broader sentiment was fickle across markets. Positive
comments from the Chinese commerce ministry on progress in trade
negotiations had rallied European stocks overnight. [nL3N26H297
Richmond Federal Reserve President Thomas I. Barkin said the
U.S. economy looked strong and it was too early to tell whether
further rate cuts were needed. But a Bloomberg report that said the United States was
unlikely to extend a waiver over Huawei Technologies' blacklist
weighed on U.S. equities.
Markets are also digesting the impeachment probe launched
into U.S. President Donald Trump, who went on the offensive as
investors increasingly view the inquiry as a long-term drag
rather than a short-term risk. The opening of the probe on Wednesday had initially knocked
the dollar, but it soon recovered and surged.
The dollar index .DXY , which measures the greenback
against a basket of other currencies, rose overnight to its
highest since Sept. 3 and held near that mark on Friday at
99.215.
"It seems that when push comes to shove, the USD remains the
safest place to be at the moment," said Rodrigo Catril, senior
FX analyst at National Australia Bank in Sydney.
"In addition to its prime reserve currency status, the
greenback is still benefiting from a yield supremacy and a U.S.
economy that is still performing relatively well."
Elsewhere, the Australian dollar AUD=D3 was firmer at
$0.6754, but only marginally as traders wait for a central bank
meeting next Tuesday where the Reserve Bank of Australia is
widely expected to cut interest rates. The New Zealand dollar NZD=D3 surrendered some of its
gains won on Thursday, when Reserve Bank of New Zealand Governor
Adrian Orr was circumspect about the prospect of further
monetary easing to steady at $0.6295. The Chinese yuan CNH= eased in offshore trade to 7.1300
per dollar.

(Editing by Jacqueline Wong)