Nov. 21, 2004
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
TOKYO -- The U.S. dollar was at a four-and-half year low against the Japanese yen early Monday after investors interpreted remarks from various top international monetary officials as an excuse to sell the U.S. currency. Tokyo stocks were sharply lower.
The dollar bought 103.14 yen Monday morning in Tokyo, down 1.04 yen from late Friday in Tokyo, but slightly above the 103.11 yen it bought in New York later that day - its lowest in four and half years.
The Nikkei Stock Average of 225 issues fell 126.43 points, or 1.14 percent, to 10,956.41 points early Monday. On Friday, the index gained 0.42 point, negligible in percentage terms.
The dollar remained weaker against the yen and the euro after statements by U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and U.S. Treasury John Snow, speaking at separate events in Europe Friday, triggered the dollar's sell-off.
The greenback's four-and-a-half year low against the yen and its flirtation with an all-time low against the euro came after Greenspan said in a speech to a conference for central bankers in Frankfurt that the United States shouldn't be "complacent" about the growth of the current account deficit.
Although Greenspan played down concerns about an imminent crisis in financing the current account deficit and reminded his audience that central bank interventions had no clear impact on foreign exchange rates, the dollar slid sharply in response.
Snow had earlier stated during his visit to Poland that the weekend meeting of the Group of 20 industrialized and developing countries wasn't a forum for discussions of exchange rates.
The euro was up at $1.3038 Monday morning in Tokyo from $1.2969 late Friday. Against the yen, the euro fell to 134.20 yen from 135.08 yen.
Tokyo stocks plunged due to the dollar's weakness against the yen. Investors sold technology and exporter issues in early trading.
The index of all issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's first section fell 10.88 points, or 0.98 percent, to 1,098.89 points early Monday. The TOPIX lost 0.48 point, or 0.04 percent, on Friday.
In Tokyo's bond trading, the yield on Japan's benchmark 10-year government bond was unquoted early Monday after finishing at 1.4300 percent Friday, with the price of 100.60 points.
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