LONDON, 20 October 2005 — The dollar soared against the euro and the yen here yesterday but profit-taking and a stronger than expected report on industrial performance in the euro zone wiped out much of the gain.
The single European currency at one point fell below the $1.19 level for the first time since early July, dropping to 1.1876, before rebounding strongly.
Against the yen the dollar jumped to 115.99, its highest level since September 2003. The euro in later trade was at 1.1987 dollars, against 1.1957 late Tuesday in New York and 115.50 yen after 115.67 on Tuesday.
The euro was changing hands at 1.1987 dollars against 1.1957 late on Tuesday in New York, 138.45 yen (138.32), 0.6800 pounds (0.6827) and 1.5516 Swiss francs (1.5527). The dollar stood at 115.53 yen (115.67) and 1.2983 Swiss francs (1.2985).
On the London Bullion Market, the price of an ounce of gold slipped to $465.90 from $472.00 late on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, European stock exchanges fell sharply yesterday.
The London FTSE 100 index shed 1.83 percent to close at 5,167.8 while in Paris the CAC 40 lost 1.93 percent to end the day at 4,375.09, its lowest reading since August 30. The Frankfurt DAX gave up 2.05 percent to end at 4,845.89. The Euro Stoxx 50 index of leading euro zone shares fell 1.65 percent to 3,279.61.
Elsewhere there were declines of 1.21 pIn New York, at 1525 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 13.44 points (0.13 percent) at 10,271.82 and the NASDAQ composite was off 7.57 points (0.37 percent) at 2,048.43. The broad-market Standard and Poor’s 500 fell 4.35 points (0.37 percent) to 1,173.79.
Asian stocks tumbled yesterday.