Euro slides vs dollar, hurt by comments from ECB's Draghi

By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The euro tumbled against the dollar on Friday after two days of gains, pressured by comments from European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi who expressed willingness to add more stimulus to the euro zone economy to raise inflation.

Most major banks have stuck firmly to the view that the euro will fall toward parity with the dollar in the months ahead as the Federal Reserve begins to lift interest rates while the ECB takes the opposite course.

The euro, which slipped back below $1.07 against the dollar, was down 3.3 percent so far in November, on pace for its worst month performance since March.

Draghi on Friday suggested that the ECB would do whatever it takes to raise inflation as fast as possible, and pointed to the benefits of a cut in deposit rates to aid an expansion of its quantitative easing program of bond-buying.

"The comments support expectations of additional, possibly aggressive, stimulus at the (ECB's) December policy meeting," said Shaun Osborne, chief currency strategist, at Scotiabank in Toronto.

In late trading, the euro fell 0.8 percent against the dollar to $1.0643 , and was down 0.8 percent versus the yen at 130.82 yen .

Nomura's global head of FX strategy Jens Nordvig now expects the euro to hit parity with the dollar by mid-2016. He said it may take that long for the Fed to deliver its second interest rate hike.

Whether the euro can move substantially lower next year will depend on, among other factors, how low the ECB is willing to push the deposit rate, Nordvig said.

The dollar, meanwhile, was flat against the yen at 122.89 yen , but was up 0.6 percent versus the Swiss franc at 1.0186 francs .

Speculation among market participants of intervention by the Swiss National Bank intensified this week, weakening the Swiss currency. The euro slid 0.3 percent against the franc to 1.0843 francs .

Overall, there are still some doubts over the dollar's ability to rise in the sort of sustained fashion seen at the end of 2014.

For the short term, the options market has substantial barriers in place around $1.06, preventing the euro from falling further.

On Friday, the influential head of the New York Fed, William Dudley, further affirmed expectations of a rate hike next month. He said the Fed should "soon" be ready to raise rates as U.S. central bankers grow confident low inflation will rebound and that employment remains stable.

(Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli; Editing by Diane Craft)

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