The first U.S. government shutdown in 17 years is stokingspeculation that the longer it lasts, the more likely the FederalReserve will delay reducing its monetary stimulus program, boostingemerging-market currencies at the expense of the dollar.

At least $300 million a day in economic output will initially belost because lawmakers can't agree on a budget, according to IHSInc. A two-week shutdown starting Oct. 1 could cut growth by 0.3percentage point to a 2.3 percent rate, according to St.Louis-based Macroeconomic Advisers LLC.

The Fed's stimulus programs have weighed on the greenback, withthe Bloomberg Dollar Index falling 0.9 percent since Sept. 17. Thatwas the day before the central bank decided to keep printing cashto buy $85 billion of bonds a month because it has yet to see signsof sustained economic growth. The Bloomberg JPMorgan Asia DollarIndex is up 0.3 percent in that period.