The dollar recovered slightly from record lows against the euro and a basket of currencies on Tuesday after euro zone officials expressed concerns about the sharp rise of the common currency.

The euro's surge for five consecutive sessions to record highs above $1.50 prompted verbal intervention by euro zone finance ministers and European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet.

Jean-Claude Juncker, chairman of the Eurogroup of finance ministers, said the ministers and Trichet had discussed exchange rate policy at length and agreed to express concerns about excessive moves.

In an indication of how seriously the ECB is taking recent euro appreciation, Trichet broke with his usual practice and spoke outside a formal news conference to stress that Washington favored a strong dollar.

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"This is the first time that Trichet has backed up the case of finance ministers (who complained about the strength of the euro) and the fact the ECB are showing solidarity with this verbal intervention, shows that Europe is taking a different tack," said Adam Myers, market strategist at Credit Suisse.

"The fact that Trichet even mentioned a strong dollar policy is important."

However, Greek finance minister George Alogoskoufis said the Eurogroup did not discuss currency market intervention.

By 3:28 a.m. EST the euro was down 0.1 percent versus the dollar at $1.5193, almost a cent lower than the $1.5275 high set the previous session according to Reuters data.

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