* Q4 net loss 1.37 bln euros, cuts dividend * Says well-placed to cope with tough market * To cut jobs in Ukraine (Adds detail, background) PARIS, Feb 19 (Reuters) - BNP Paribas, the French bank embroiled in plans to carve-up struggling rival Fortis , posted an expected fourth quarter loss and said market conditions would remain tough in 2009. France's biggest bank by market capitalisation on Thursday reported a net loss of 1.37 billion euros ($1.73 billion) -- in line with guidance given last month for a loss of around 1.4 billion euros. It also cut its dividend by 70 percent from last year to 1 euros per share. Last year, it made a fourth quarter net profit of around 1.01 billion euros. BNP was hit by losses at its investment banking arm, a 345 million euro exposure to an alleged $50 billion fraud by U.S. financier Bernard Madoff, and by a slump in the economy of Ukraine, where it has operations. BNP said it would cut jobs in Ukraine and close down 100 bank branches in that country. BNP expected market conditions for 2009 to remain very difficult but added it was well-placed to cope with the tough climate. Its results were worse than those posted on Wednesday ...

SHANGHAI, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Major Chinese engine maker Weichai Power Co said on Thursday it had no interest in buying General Motors' auto parts unit in France, denying media reports. GM said in August that it intended to sell its plant in Strasbourg and saw possible interest from Asia. French media on Wednesday named Weichai as a potential buyer. "The board would like to state that the contents of such an article have no basis in fact. The company does not have any intention to make such an acquisition," the Chinese firm said in a statement. The struggling Detroit automaker, on life support after obtaining billions of dollars in funds from the U.S. government to stave off bankruptcy, has been seeking buyers for its assets, including for its Hummer SUV line and the Swedish brand Saab, but no deal has been struck so far. GM has requested $16.4 billion in additional loans from the government for a total of up to $30 billion, and has said it will run out of cash as soon as March without new federal funding. ($1=6.835 Yuan) (Reporting by Fang Yan, Editing by Jacqueline Wong)

For German four-week diary please click on [DE/DIA] For German corporate events diary click on [WEU/EQUITY] UPCOMING ECONOMIC INDICATORS GMT MEDIAN DATE GMT/LOCAL INDICATOR PERIOD F/CAST PRIOR 20FEB 0828/0928 Markit Services Flash PMI Feb 45.0 45.2 20FEB 0828/0928 Markit/BME MFG Flash PMI Feb 32.5 32.0 20FEB ...

BRUSSELS, Feb 18 (Reuters) - The European Union voiced concern on Wednesday over the fall of currencies in the bloc's eastern European members outside the euro zone, urging their authorities to avoid statements exacerbating the problem. EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said he was worried about the situation of banks in central, eastern and southern Europe, pointing to EU member Romania as well as non-EU states -- Ukraine, Croatia and Serbia. Presenting the European Commission's assessments of EU members' mid-term fiscal plans, Almunia said the bloc was ready to help, although aid would be different in the case of EU and non-EU members. The comments came as central and eastern Europe emerged as especially hard hit by the global financial crisis, prompting a currency and stock sell-off in the region. The Polish zloty <EURPLN=> fell to near all-time lows against the euro this week before regaining some ground on Wednesday while the Hungarian forint <EURHUF=> set a new record low. The Czech crown has also been under pressure. "I am ...concerned about the volatility of the exchange rate in EU countries with floating regimes," Almunia told a news conference in a reference to Poland, Hungary, Romania and the Czech Republic. He urged authorities ...

(Adds dropped word "month" in headline) * Euro hits fresh 2-½ mth low vs dlr on regional bank fears * Yen buying on risk aversion may wane on Japan political woes * U.S. auto restructuring plans fail to move market By Kaori Kaneko TOKYO, Feb 18 (Reuters) - The euro hit a fresh 2-½ month low against the dollar on Wednesday after warnings from ratings agencies fuelled fear that a deep recession in Eastern Europe would cause more damage to European banks. Moody's Investors Service threatened to downgrade euro zone banks with significant exposure to the weakening economies in Eastern and Central Europe and Standard & Poor's also said it may review emerging Europe bank ratings. "With growing credit concerns in Europe, investors seem to be continuing to unwind their positions and securing cash in dollars," said Saburo Matsumoto, senior manager at Sumitomo Trust Banking. The euro fell as low as $1.2558, its lowest since Dec. 4 although it later edged up 0.1 percent from late U.S. trade on Tuesday to $1.2595 <EUR=>. The euro was little changed at 116.18 yen. Currency market players said they were watching how Asian stock markets would perform but falls may not prompt yen purchases on risk aversion as much ...

* Euro hit by warnings on European banks ratings * Yen buying on risk aversion may wane on Japan political woes * U.S. auto restructuring plans fail to move market By Kaori Kaneko TOKYO, Feb 18 (Reuters) - The euro hit a fresh 2-½ month low against the dollar on Wednesday after warnings from ratings agencies fuelled fear that a deep recession in Eastern Europe would cause more damage to European banks. Moody's Investors Service threatened to downgrade euro zone banks with significant exposure to the weakening economies in Eastern and Central Europe, and Standard & Poor's said it may review emerging Europe bank ratings. [ID:nLH423223] "With growing credit concerns in Europe, investors seem to be continuing to unwind their positions and securing cash in dollars," said Saburo Matsumoto, senior manager at Sumitomo Trust Banking. The euro fell as low as $1.2558, its lowest since Dec. 4, though it later inched up 0.1 percent from late U.S. trade on Tuesday to $1.2598 <EUR=>. The euro was down 0.2 percent at 116.04 yen <EURJPY=R>. Currency market players said they were watching how Asian stock markets perform but falls may not prompt yen purchases on risk aversion as much as in the past due to concerns about Japanese political ...

* Dollar hits 2-1/2-month high vs euro * Moody's, S&P warn of deterioration in Eastern Europe * Dollar index nears 3-month high on safe-haven flows (Updates prices, adds comment) By Steven C. Johnson NEW YORK, Feb 17 (Reuters) - The dollar gained broadly on Tuesday, hitting a 10-week high against the euro after warnings from two credit ratings agencies sparked fear that a deep recession in Eastern Europe would cause further damage to banks in the euro zone. The yen also fell after earlier data showed Japan's economy shrank in the fourth quarter at its fastest clip in 35 years and the country's finance minister resigned, putting pressure on the government. The euro fell below $1.26 for the first time since early December after Moody's Investors Service threatened to downgrade euro zone banks with significant exposure to the weakening economies in Eastern and Central Europe. Standard & Poor's also said it may review emerging Europe bank ratings now that the credit crisis has limited Western European banks' ability to fund subsidiaries in the region. "That's pretty negative for the European economic outlook and certainly implies that the (European Central Bank) has more work to do," said Robert Blake, senior currency strategist at State Street Global Markets in ...

* Dollar gains broadly, euro at lowest in more than 2 months * Moody's says east European crisis weighing on bank ratings * Yen pressured vs dlr as Japan's finance minister to quit * Eyes also on U.S. automakers' restructuring plans (Updates quotes, prices, adds data) By Kirsten Donovan LONDON, Feb 17 (Reuters) - The dollar rose broadly while the euro hit a more than two-month low on Tuesday, pressed by concerns over a recession in eastern Europe and the knock-on effect on European banks. However, the single currency pared some losses after data showed a surprise pick up in the German ZEW economic sentiment survey in February. The greenback rose against the yen after Japan's finance minister said he would resign following criticism of his behaviour at a weekend Group of Seven meeting. And ongoing concerns over the global economy, banks' balance sheets and corporate results kept investors wary, with European shares down on the day, boosting flows into the dollar, which is currently perceived as a safe-haven currency. "The main reason for the euro weakness is the worries not only about the European economy but also especially in Eastern Europe where currencies are falling rapidly across the board," said Nordea rate strategist Niels Christensen. "That's reason to worry about ...

Our market move timing program continues to yield strong and efficient performance. We have three Alerts issued for the next 24 hours. Before I list them — I personally choose to issue an Alert to watch for medium price action at 5:10pm New York close onward to 6:40pm. Below 1.2937 — I maintain a bearish outlook for the eur/usd pair currently running 1% of equity. Later this evening I hope to issue amyofficial EUR/USD Forecast once I complete a solid study. Currently I have a schedule conflict but I hope to share more later. PMTP: Feb. 11th 7:25 p.m. - 8:15 p.m. ET for 1.5 hours duration, medium-to-strong Feb. 12th 2:50 a.m. - 3:10 a.m. ET for 2.5 hours duration, medium+ productivity Feb. 12th 8:50 a.m. - 9:15 a.m. ET for 3 hours duration, strong productivity Lastly — I rarely concern myself with fundamentals to make trading decisions; if ever at all. I am a price action technical trader. That said — I want to share my opinion that the impact of fundamental news to currency valuations is building and ‘trigger-finger’ news out of Europe or Asia is overdue and must be considered. Technically — I see a whipsaw building and breakout potential. Source: forextradersdaily

Yen reverses gains as stocks rise spurs risk-taking Dollar up 0.2 pct vs yen at 91.31 yen <JPY=> Gains capped ahead of Jan U.S. jobs report Focus on fate of U.S. rescue plans for financial system (Adds quotes, updates prices) By Tamawa Desai LONDON, Feb 6 (Reuters) - The yen fell versus the dollar and euro on Friday, reversing gains as rises in stocks renewed appetite for riskier assets but caution prevailed before U.S. jobs data which will show another grim sign for the economy. The dollar recovered against the yen from levels seen in late U.S. trade on Thursday but was still below a nearly one-month high hit as Wall Street rallied. But traders were wary of chasing prices sharply higher ahead of data that is expected to show more than half a million U.S. jobs likely lost in January. The U.S. unemployment rate was likely to have climbed to 7.5 percent in January, compared with 7.2 percent a month earlier, with 525,000 jobs forecast to have been shed. [ID:nN04455795] "Payrolls are the big focus for the day," said analysts at Citigroup. "Bad news still means good news for the dollar." At 1004 GMT, the dollar was up 0.3 percent on the day at 91.46 yen ...