The U.S. dollar traded mixed against major currencies in late New York trading on Monday as investors fled from risky investments to safe-haven currencies like Swiss franc and Japanese yen, after a historic downgrade of U. S. credit rating by Standard & Poor's.
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U.S. dollar, euro and Swiss franc bank notes are seen in a bank in Budapest August 8, 2011.The forint lead currencies lower in emerging Europe; the euro and the dollar lost ground against the Japanese yen and the Swiss franc amid worries about a European and American debt crisis spiralling out of control.
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Investors pulled out their money betting on riskier assets, such as commodities, stocks and rushed to safe haven investments on Monday. The Swiss franc and Japanese yen were regarded as safe bet when the markets underwent turmoil. Both currencies climbed against the dollar on Monday.
Meanwhile, although the European Central Bank bought Italian and Spanish bonds to help these countries to address debt problems, the investors worried that European Financial Stability Facility, the longer-term bailout program, will be given enough funds to support those much larger bond markets, compared to Greece, Portugal and Ireland.
The euro tumbled more than 1 percent against the dollar on Monday. The dollar index rallied 0.11 percent to 74.68.
In late Monday trading, the dollar bought 77.70 yen, comparing with 78.34 from late Friday, and the euro fell to 1.4190 dollars from 1.4265.
The British pound also fell to 1.6353 dollars from 1.6362. The dollar fell from 0.7666 Swiss francs to 0.7559, but rose to 0.9921 Canadian dollars from 0.9796.