The yen and Swiss franc rose against most of the other major currencies on
bets credit market losses will widen, prompting investors to sell holdings of
higher- yielding assets and pay back loans in Japan
and Switzerland.
The yen gained the most in more than
a week versus the euro on speculation American International Group Inc. will
post a quarterly loss and as Columbian Bank & Trust Co. became the ninth
U.S. bank to collapse this year. South Korea's won fell to the
lowest against the dollar in almost four years as overseas investors stepped up
sales of the nation's shares.
The dollar briefly pared its loss against the yen as an industry report showed U.S. home
resales rose last month more than economists forecast.
Resales rose to a 5 million annual rate in July, the National Association of
Realtors reported. The median forecast of economists was for an increase to
4.91 million.
EUR/USDprintedhighson$1.4795
beforeslidingto$1.4700. Bids
managed to support euro and rate rebounded to $1.4741.
GBP/USD fell
from $1.8530 to $1.8400 before recovered to $1.8460.
USD/JPY tested
Y110.30 before rebounded to Y109.80.
The Ifo institute's business confidence index in Germany will probably show a decline to 97.2 in August, the lowest since September 2005, from 97.5 the previous month, according to the median forecast of economists. The report is due tomorrow.