LONDON, 16 February 2006 — The dollar gained ground yesterday even though much-awaited testimony from new US Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke added little to what markets had been expecting.
The euro fell to 1.1878 dollars in late European trades from 1.1914 dollars in New York late on Tuesday. The dollar rose to 118.00 yen from 117.39 yen on Tuesday.
The euro was changing hands at 1.1878 dollars against 1.1914 late on Tuesday, 140.25 yen (139.88), 0.6835 pounds (0.6860) and 1.5576 Swiss francs (1.5582).
The dollar stood at 118.00 yen (117.39) and 1.3107 Swiss francs (1.3076).
On the London Bullion Market, the price of an ounce of gold rose to $540.50 compared with $539.70 late on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, European stock exchanges turned in mixed results yesterday, with the London FTSE 100 index closing essentially unchanged for a second straight day at 5,791.5 points. In Paris the CAC 40 lost 0.55 percent to close at 4,934.09 points while in Frankfurt the DAX was also flat at 5,764.31.
In New York, at 1630 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 11.50 percent (0.10 percent) at 11,016.89, while the NASDAQ composite rose 3.29 points (0.15 percent) to 2,265.46. The broad-market Standard and Poor’s 500 index dipped 1.29 points (0.10 percent) to 1,274.24.
Asian stocks closed mostly lower yesterday. In Tokyo, the Nikkei-225 index lost 252.04 points or 1.56 percent to 15,932.83. In Seoul, the KOSPI index closed down 24.37 points at 1,303.84. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index rose 2.94 points at 15,423.26.
In Sydney, the SP ASX 200 closed down 29.2 points at 4,835.0. In Singapore, the Straits Times index fell 16.81 points to 2,424.17. In Kuala Lumpur, the composite index rose 1.66 points to 927.17. In Manila, the composite index rose 4.20 points at 2,074.09. In Bombay, the 30-share Sensex index rose 26.55 points to 10,113.18.