Today News >> Thursday, Aug 13, 2008 (GMT+7)

The Dollar rallied to a five-and-a-half month high against the Euro on Monday, boosted by another drop in Crude Oil prices and speculation that the US economy slowdown was spreading worldwide. EurUsd, which last week suffered its biggest weekly fall since its 1999 inception, briefly fell below the 1.4900 level on Monday.

Mounting signs of economic difficulties in Europe, Asia and Australia have diminished prospects of higher interest rates outside the United States, bolstering demand for the Dollar. Declining Oil prices helped ease worries about the impact of higher energy costs on the US economy and also helped boost demand for the greenback.

Yesterday, EurUsd was 0.65% lower at 1.4910, after hitting 1.4881 lowest trading level since February 26th. UsdJpy was fairly unchanged at 110.16 after trading as high as 110.40. UsdChf rose 0.39% to 1.0864 rebounding from intraday 1.0742 low. GbpUsd dropped 0.47% to 1.9114 reversing from intraday 1.9256 high.

The euro briefly recouped some of its losses after European Central Bank council member Klaus Liebscher warned that policy-makers remained focused on taming high inflation. Liebscher told Market News International that inflation risks remained to the upside in the medium term and that there is no room for "complacency" on euro zone interest rates and inflation.

Demand for the Swiss franc rose on news of the fighting between Russia and Georgia. EurChf traded near a three-week low of 1.6168 and ended down 0.26% at 1.6198.