FOREX-German election uncertainty sinks euro; dollar broadly gains

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* German election knocks euro lower

* New Zealand election hurts kiwi

* Dollar gains broadly

(Updates to U.S. market open, adds quotes, data, changes dateline, previous LONDON)

By Dion Rabouin

NEW YORK, Sept 25 (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar rose broadly on Monday, benefiting from elections in Germany and New Zealand that left unclear outcomes about the future of governance.

The euro fell after a weekend victory for German Chancellor Angela Merkel that was accompanied by a surge in support for the far right. Support for Merkel's conservatives unexpectedly slumped to its lowest since 1949 and the Social Democrats, partners in the outgoing coalition, said they would go into opposition. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N1M6092

"Markets don't like uncertainty and the German election results have injected a healthy dose of (that)," said Richard Falkenhall, a strategist at SEB AB in Stockholm.

The euro EUR= was last down more than half a percent against both the dollar and sterling EURGBP= .

The euro has been one of the best performing currencies against the greenback this year, having gained more than 13 percent against the dollar.

The German election results mean "the process of building a coalition could take months and that the resulting agreement will be a much weaker government in the euro zone's largest economy," said Omer Esiner, chief market analyst at Commonwealth Foreign Exchange in a note to clients.

The news from Germany is likely to refocus investor attention on other political events in Europe, particularly a divisive independence referendum in Catalonia on Oct. 1 and Italian elections next year. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N1M50G6

Markets may conclude that the political backdrop in the euro zone remains disjointed and poses a threat to investment potential in the medium term, Rabobank strategists said in a client note.

The dollar also surged 1 percent against the New Zealand dollar NZD= following that country's election over the weekend, which left the ruling National Party short of the necessary votes to rule without forming a coalition.

"The opposition Labour Party and the nationalist New Zealand First party have enough combined votes to form a coalition on their own, which increases the political uncertainty and saps the kiwi, which has long benefited from a stable political backdrop ... a key source of the currency's support," Esiner said.

The dollar gained 0.35 percent against a broad basket of currencies .DXY as investors reduced short bets against it.

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(Additional reporting by Saikat Chatterjee; Editing by Bernadette Baum) ((saikat.chatterjee@thomsonreuters.com; +44-20-7542-1713; Reuters Messaging: saikat.chatterjee.reuters.com@reuters.net))

Keywords: GLOBAL FOREX/

Referenced Symbols:EFX,

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