Dollar Posts Weekly Gain as Stock Plunge Spurs Haven Demand

Nov. 21 (Bloomberg) -- The dollar recorded a third weekly gain against the euro as a plunge in global stocks increased demand for the safety of U.S. government debt.
The yen increased versus the euro, the dollar, the Brazilian real and the Mexican peso this week on speculation investors will sell higher-yielding assets and pay back low-cost loans in Japan’s currency. Japan’s Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa said today “abrupt movements” in stocks and currencies are undesirable.
“It’s all about risk in this emotional market,” said Jacob Oubina, a currency strategist at FOREX.com, a unit of online currency trading firm Gain Capital in Bedminster, New Jersey. “Risk aversion is still prevalent.”
The dollar traded at $1.2582 per euro at 4:17 p.m. in New York, gaining 0.2 percent from $1.2605 on Nov. 14. The yen was at 95.94 versus the dollar, up 1.2 percent from 97.14. It traded at 120.61 against the euro, increasing 1.5 percent this week from 122.39.
The ICE’s Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against the euro, the yen, the pound, the Canadian dollar, the Swiss franc and Sweden’s krona, rose to 88.463 today, the highest level since April 2006. It posted its third weekly gain.