April 14 (Bloomberg) -- The dollar gained more than a cent against the euro after the European Central Bank said there are ``no clear signs'' that euro-region growth will accelerate. The U.S. currency also rose the most in a month versus the yen.

The dollar is up 5.8 percent versus the euro this year and 5.4 percent against the yen. The ECB's comments in its monthly bulletin come a day after the International Monetary Fund lifted its growth estimate for the U.S. while cutting those for Japan and Germany.

``The growth story in the U.S. is alive and well,'' said Lara Rhame, a New York-based currency strategist at Credit Suisse First Boston. ``The dollar will be going stronger.'' CSFB raised its three-month dollar forecast last week to $1.27 per euro.

Against the euro, the dollar jumped 0.7 percent to $1.2824 at 3 p.m. in New York, from $1.2914 late yesterday, according to electronic currency-dealing system EBS. It rose as high as $1.2766, breaching $1.28 for the first time in almost two months. The U.S. currency gained to 108.15 yen from 107.36.

Japanese economic growth won't be fast enough to allow companies to raise prices until the year ending in March 2007, the Bank of Japan will say in a report on April 28, Jiji news service reported today.

``It's not so much confidence in the U.S. economy; it's that the economic data out of Japan and Europe have been disappointing,'' said Jason Daw, senior currency strategist in New York at Merrill Lynch & Co., the world's biggest securities firm. ``People have gone into the dollar by default.''

Dollar Index

The dollar rose above its average over the last 200 days against a basket of six currencies, a signal it may climb further, said Steve Pearson, chief currency strategist at HBOS Plc in London. The New York Board of Trade's Dollar Index reached 85.32 today, passing its 200-day moving average of 85.16.

Investors will probably begin buying euros as it approaches $1.27, said Pearson. ``Eventually, though, that level will crumble and the dollar will grind higher. It won't happen today, but it will happen.''

The U.S. currency is also up 1 percent against the euro this week on speculation that investors who had bet against the dollar are now buying it back. The dollar rose yesterday even after a government report showed U.S. retail sales grew less than economists forecast in March. It also gained on April 12 after the U.S. announced a record trade deficit.

``We've had a number of counterintuitive rallies that puzzled people, which would suggest somebody is doing something against the grain of the data,'' said John McCarthy, a director of currency trading in New York at ING Financial Markets LLC. Investors who bet on a dollar decline ``are being challenged in their bearish assumptions,'' he said.

Buffett, Gates

Warren Buffett, chairman and chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. in Omaha, Nebraska, and Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft Corp. in Redmond, Washington, are among investors who have bet against the dollar. Buffett's firm made $1.63 billion on foreign currencies in the fourth quarter, and the company said on March 5 it had $21.4 billion in foreign-exchange forward contracts in the quarter.

Gates said in an interview with Charlie Rose on Jan. 28 that ``I'm short the dollar.'' Gates and Buffett are the world's two richest men. Buffett told shareholders in an annual letter on March 5 he was less confident in his bet on the dollar because ``so many pundits predict weakness for the dollar.''

Berkshire Hathaway Treasurer Marc Hamburg and Michael Larson, manager of Gates's personal investment vehicle Cascade Investment LLC, both declined to comment on currency transactions.

EU 'Discord'

Demand for the euro has also dropped this week on concern French voters may reject the European Union's draft constitution in a referendum next month, said Shimpei Uike, who manages overseas debt in Tokyo at Asahi Life Asset Management Co., which has $10.5 billion in assets.

The EU is drawing up contingency plans in case France or the Netherlands vote ``no'' in referendums on the constitution, the Financial Times reported today, without saying where it got the information. French President Jacques Chirac is delivering a televised address tonight on the constitution.

``The EU is the backbone of the euro, and any discord within the group could damage the credibility of its currency,'' Uike said. The euro may fall to $1.28 in a week, he said. ``Such disarray may further erode fiscal discipline of member countries, which may pursue their own interests at the expense of unity.''

Last month, the EU gave in to German, French and Italian demands to relax the enforcement of the rules, in a bid to boost an economy that will lag behind the U.S. for the 13th time in 14 years in 2005.

IMF Forecasts

The IMF increased its forecast for 2005 U.S. growth to 3.6 percent, from a previous estimate of 3.5 percent. Japan and Germany will lag behind with a 0.8 percent pace, the fund said in its World Economic Outlook.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development also plans to lift its 2005 projection for the U.S., while reducing forecasts for Japan and the euro region, a draft of the group's semi-annual outlook showed. The ECB said in its monthly report recent figures show ``no clear signs as yet of a strengthening in underlying dynamics.''

``We're positive on the U.S. dollar,'' said Rick Arney, a currency strategist in San Francisco at Barclays Global Investors, which manages more than $1 trillion. ``The U.S. economy is growing, when compared with other regions such as Asia and Europe.''

The Federal Reserve has lifted its target interest rate seven times since June, to 2.75 percent, as the Bank of Japan and ECB kept their benchmarks unchanged. The ECB's main rate is 2 percent. Borrowing costs in Japan are near zero.

The dollar remained higher against the euro and the yen after the U.S. Labor Department said the number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits fell last week. Initial applications declined to 330,000 from a revised 340,000 a week earlier, in-line with the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey.

To contact the reporters on this story: Joshua Krongold in New York at at jkrongold2@bloomberg.net; Michael McDonald in New York at mmcdonald10@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: April 14, 2005 15:03 EDT