Euro dips, dogged by doubts over EU crisis plan

By Masayuki Kitano

SINGAPORE, Oct 20 (Reuters) - The euro inched lower on Thursday, hurt by nagging doubts over whether European leaders will take aggressive steps at a summit this weekend to ease the region's debt crisis.

The euro dipped 0.1 percent to $1.3747 , having retreated from the previous day's intraday high of $1.3870, as European policymakers struggled to reach consensus on measures to contain the crisis.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Wednesday that plans to tackle the euro zone debt crisis have stalled with Paris and Berlin at odds over how to increase the firepower of the region's bailout fund.

Still, the euro's downside was considered likely to be limited in the near-term, with some market players giving Europe the benefit of doubt in the lead-up to this weekend's European Union summit, and a G20 summit in early November.

"As long as hopes for a soft-landing (of the crisis) persist, the euro's downside will probably stay firm, at least for this week and next week," said Makoto Noji, senior bond and currency strategist for SMBC Nikko Securities in Tokyo.

"I don't think we are in a situation where selling will snowball and push the euro down immediately to $1.33 or $1.32," Noji said, adding that the unwinding of short euro positions taken over the past few months may lend the currency support.

The bottom of the euro's range for the next couple of weeks will probably be around $1.35, Noji said.

On the upside, the euro will likely face stiff resistance at the 200-day moving average, Noji said, adding that single currency may have a hard time breaking above that line in the next few months. The 200-day moving average now lies near $1.4085.

Closer to current levels, the euro faces resistance at the 55-day moving average near $1.3925. Support on hourly charts comes in roughly around $1.3725 to $1.3730, near the 200-hour moving average and a few recent hourly lows.

The dollar was steady to firmer, with dollar/yen little changed at 76.82 yen and the Australian dollar dipping 0.2 percent versus the greenback to $1.0206 .