February 21, 2002	Thursday	Zilhaj 8, 1422

LONDON, Feb 20: The euro dipped against the dollar on Wednesday but dealers said the US currency was still struggling to shake off worries about equity weakness and potential accounting irregularities in the United States.

The single European currency was changing hands for $0.8757 against 0.8764 late on Tuesday in New York.

The dollar was trading for 133.56 yen against 133.54 in New York.

The continued focus is on the performance of the equity market, said Paul Mackel, economist at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein.

There is still a lot of concern about the accounting statements and reports by US corporates and there seems to be a daily event now that you are reading about a US company under pressure to restate their earnings or being investigated, he told AFP.

Investors are worried that other companies could go the same way as US energy giant Enron, which went bankrupt last year after admitting to using murky accounting methods to inflate its profits. Several other firms have since restated their accounts.

This type of negative sentiment is not very good for the equity market. That’s keeping the dollar slightly weaker against the major currencies, said Mackel.

The yen was stable against the dollar as dealers waited to hear whether the Japanese government would inject public funds into the weak banking system as the market has been speculating it might.

People are looking to see what happens ... there is a possibility that public funds could be poured into major Japanese banks before the fiscal year ends (in March), said HSBC foreign exchange manager Taketo Uda in Tokyo.

Bank of Japan governor Masaru Hayami urged Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi late Tuesday to decide fast on pumping more taxpayers’ money into large banks to help them write-off a mountain of bad loans, cited as a root cause of the nation’s economic malaise, local media reported.

The euro was being traded at $0.8757 from 0.8764 in New York late on Tuesday, at 116.94 yen (117.03), 0.6126 pounds (0.6123) and 1.4796 Swiss francs (1.4793).

The dollar was at 133.56 yen (133.54) and 1.6908 Swiss francs (1.6881).

Sterling bought 1.4293 dollars from 1.4285 in New York, 190.91 yen (191.12) and 2.4149 Swiss francs (2.4161).

The price of gold lurched down to $292.63 an ounce from $297.25 on Tuesday afternoon.—AFP