FOREX-Euro stays quiet on Europe's day off; Australian dollar sinks
* US dollar broadly stable against most major currencies
* Sterling falls both against dollar and euro
* Graphic: World FX rates in 2019 http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh
By Olga Cotaga
LONDON, May 1 (Reuters) - The euro stabilised against the U.S. dollar on Friday, having rallied the day before to a two-week high on month-end flows and on news that the European Central Bank will make loans to banks even cheaper.
Much of Europe was closed on Friday for the International Workers' Day, as was much of Asia, but a new month brings a new set of worries to investors as coronavirus infections rise to 3.3 million globally, claiming more than 230,000 lives.
The U.S. dollar was down slightly against the Japanese yen as well, trading at 107.07 yen, though another metric of distress in the markets - the Australian dollar - fell by 1% to 0.6447, its weakest since Tuesday.
The Canadian dollar also fell, by 0.5% to 1.4016 against the greenback.
Analysts attributed the moves to poor equity performance in the United States.
"The late day fall in the S&P 500 diminished the market's gains for the month and turned April from the best month since October 1974 to the best month since January 1987," said Marshall Gittler, a forex analyst at broker BDSwiss.
"The mood was reflected in currencies as well, with CHF the top gainer and AUD and CAD leading the way lower," he said.
Sterling gave up some of the gains it made the day before, trading down 0.4% against both the dollar and the euro, at $1.2550 and 87.31 pence respectively.
The euro was last up 0.1% at $1.0969. (Reporting by Olga Cotaga Editing by Gareth Jones)
