April 11 (Bloomberg) -- The dollar traded less than two cents from a record low against the euro amid speculation officials from the Group of Seven are unlikely to agree on a plan to support the U.S. currency when they meet today.

The greenback gained the most in more than a week against the shared currency yesterday after European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet expressed concern about exchange- rate volatility. The euro, which this year gained 7.9 percent against the dollar, had reached a record earlier in the day, before the ECB left its key rate at a six-year high 4 percent.

``We don't think there will be tremendous agreement do anything,'' said Robert Sinche, head of global currency strategy at Bank of America Corp. in New York, in an interview with Bloomberg Radio. ``As we go through the G-7, euro-dollar will get up through $1.60.''

The dollar traded at $1.5743 at 6:53 a.m. in Tokyo, from $1.5742 yesterday, when it touched a record of $1.5913. The U.S. currency traded at 101.76 yen, from 101.95 yesterday.

A weaker dollar has helped boost U.S. exports and support growth as the economy risks lapsing into a recession. American exports increased 2 percent to a record $151.4 billion in February, boosted by sales of fuel oil, autos, food oils and corn, the Commerce Department said yesterday in Washington.

The Group of Seven, which comprises the U.S., Japan, Germany, the U.K., France, Italy and Canada, hasn't intervened in currency markets since it supported the euro in 2000. Finance officials from the nations will speak at a press conference at 6:45 p.m. in Washington today.

``For the G-7 to do more than verbal intervention they need to show how the FX volatility is leading to macro economic problems and I'm not sure they can,'' said Greg Anderson, a foreign exchange strategist at ABN Amro Bank NV in Chicago.

Pound Strengthens

The euro yesterday declined to 79.77 British pence, from 80.10 the prior day, after trading at an all-time high of 80.29 pence after the Bank of England cut borrowing costs a quarter percentage point to 5 percent. It fell against most of the major currencies including a 1 percent drop against the Australian dollar and a 0.6 percent decline against the Canadian dollar.

The Group of Seven meeting is a ``risk event,'' said John McCarthy, director of currency trading at ING Financial Markets LLC in New York. ``People just want to take some money off the table.''

The ECB has avoided rate cuts even as concern deepened that the fallout from the U.S. subprime-mortgage crisis will spread to Europe. Consumer prices in the 15 countries that share the euro rose 3.5 percent in March from a year earlier, the fastest pace in almost 16 years.

`Closer to the End'

Financial-market tension may have ``a broader than currently expected impact on the real economy,'' and that the central bank is concerned about the ``excessive volatility of exchange rates,'' Trichet said in Frankfurt.

Investors yesterday scaled back early rate-cut expectations, futures trading showed. The implied yield on the August Euribor futures contract, which has risen 50 basis points since the start of March, increased 1 basis point to 4.41 percent.

The pound dropped 7.9 percent against the euro this year as investors reined in growth estimates for the U.K. economy.

The dollar was yesterday helped by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein, who said ``we're closer to the end than the beginning'' of the credit turmoil. His comments follow similar statements from Morgan Stanley Chief Executive John Mack this week and helped the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index to climb 0.45 percent.

Chinese Yuan

Asian currencies climbed after Singapore's central bank raised the trading range for its dollar to reduce inflation. China's yuan rose beyond 7 to the U.S. dollar for the first time since a fixed-exchange rate in 2005.

The decision taken by the Singapore bank stoked speculation other central banks will seek stronger currencies to reduce the cost of importing rice and fuel, according to Masaki Fukui, a senior economist and currency analyst in Tokyo at Mizuho Corporate Bank Ltd., Japan's third-largest bank by assets.

``Singapore, China, Thailand, Indonesia and South Korea are all fighting to control inflationary pressures,'' said Fukui. The yen may rise to 85 per dollar this year, Fukui forecast.

Citigroup Inc., Deutsche Bank AG, and JPMorgan Chase & Co. were among six banks that raised their forecasts for Singapore's dollar yesterday.

To contact the reporters on this story: Bo Nielsen in New York at bnielsen4@bloomberg.netYe Xie in New York at Yxie6@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: April 10, 2008 17:56 EDT