June 25, 2002	Tuesday	Rabi-us-Sani 13, 1423

LONDON, June 24: The dollar remained under heavy pressure against other leading currencies after US stocks took another pounding as trading got underway on Wall Street.

The single European currency rose to 0.9811 dollars — its highest level since February 2000 — from 0.9713 late on Friday in New York, before profit taking pushed it back down to 0.9764.

The dollar dropped to 1.0242 euros from 1.0295.

The beleaguered US unit, which also hit its lowest level since Oct 1999 against the Swiss franc, and a 22-month low against the British pound, even failed to make headway against the yen, despite efforts by the BoJ to staunch its own currency’s rise.

The dollar traded virtually flat at 121.46 yen from 121.40 late on Friday, after intervention by the BoJ met with little success.

The euro’s rise against the dollar was welcomed by a European Commission spokesman although he said the pace of the climb would “need to be analysed”.—AFP