Dollar hits 14-month low vs basket, euro nears $1.50

       The dollar hit a 14-month low against a basket of currencies yesterday on a cocktail of policymaker comments,but options-related buying kept it from pushing through $1.50 against the euro and 90 yen.
       Strength in global stocks, fired by Apple Incs forecast-beating third-quarter earnings overnight, also fed traders appetite to sell dollars for higher-yielding currencies and assets more closely correlated with economic recovery.
       Comments on the euros strength from an adviser to French President Nicolas Sarkozy and a Market News International report quoting an unnamed Chinese government source calling for a reversal of the dollars slide had limited impact.
       Until the market hears much stronger rhetoric from leading policymakers like European Central Bank President JeanClaude Trichet, low US interest rates coupled with rising asset and commodity prices will probably weigh on the dollar,analysts say.
       The dollar has been under sustained pressure this year due to expectations for low US interest rates and questions about its status as the worlds reserve currency.
       At 1000 GMT the dollar index, a measure of its strength against six major currencies, was down 0.4% at 75.21 after dipping as low as 75.103, its lowest in 14 months.
       After failing to take out options barriers at $1.50, the euro was last at $1.4978, up 0.1% on the day. It earlier touched a 14-month high of $1.4994, and slipped to $1.4955 after the Market News repor t on an unnamed Chinese gover nment sources concern over the dollar.