November 03, 2007	Saturday	Shawwal 21, 1428

NEW YORK, Nov 2: The dollar plummeted to all-time lows against the euro and a major currency basket on Friday on persistent worries about credit and unreported losses at financial firms, which overshadowed a strong US payrolls report.

“The focus of the market right now is on the financial sector and we are tracking the stock market,” said Brian Dolan, chief currency strategist at Forex.com in Bedminster, New Jersey.

He added that the positive impact from US payrolls has completely faded and the market has been spooked by “all sorts of rumours about possible write-downs” at big banks.

“The market always views euro/dollar as a ‘buy on dips’ regardless of the data.” The euro surged to an all-time high at $1.4525, according to Reuters data. It last traded at $1.4490 midday in New York, up 0.5 per cent on the day.

The dollar index, which charts the greenback’s progress against a basket of six major currencies, fell as low as 76.242, the lowest in its more than 30-year history. It was last at 76.407, down 0.2 per cent.

The dollar was up 0.2 per cent against the yen at 114.79 yen, clinging to small gains.

“Today it looks as if we are back in panic mode, but I believe this is partly a reaction to the irrational exuberance of equities over the last several weeks,” wrote Marco Annunziata, chief economist at HVB Bank in London.

“I still believe it will take quite a while for the crisis to be resolved, and a policy solution will likely be needed to help unfreeze credit markets,” he added.

—Reuters