 | |  | | ``It now looks as if the war will end quickly, removing some of the pessimism about the dollar,'' said Masahiro Fukuhara, Tokyo- based currency strategist at Barclays Global Investors, which has about $750 billion under management.
The U.S. currency rose to 120.75 yen at 10:46 a.m. in Tokyo, from 120.00 late in New York Friday. It also strengthened to $1.0655 per euro, from $1.0735. It may rise to 122 yen in the next few weeks, Fukuhara said.
Survey
The prospect of an allied victory will send the dollar up against the euro for the fourth week in five, according to the majority of investors and traders surveyed by Bloomberg News.
The allied advance ``is being greeted quite positively for the U.S. dollar,'' Jonathan Prince, manager of foreign exchange at National Australia Bank in Sydney, told Bloomberg Television. The dollar could rise to $1.05 per euro in the next few weeks, he said.
Some 61 percent of the 29 analysts, investors and traders polled Friday recommended selling euros in favor of dollars, and 66 percent said to sell Swiss francs for dollars. About 21 percent said buy francs and 18 percent said buy euros, with the remainder recommending to ``hold'' the currencies.
By comparison, 68 percent of those polled a week earlier had recommended buying euros and selling dollars.
Gold prices declined 1.9 percent last week to a four-month low of $326 an ounce for the June contract as progress in the war damped gold's attraction as a haven for investors.
In other trading, the dollar rose to 1.3973 Swiss francs, from 1.3854 francs. The British pound fell to $1.5574, from $1.5611. The yen was at 128.62 per euro, from 128.76.
Last Updated: April 6, 2003 21:58 EDT |  |  |  |  |
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