LONDON, Nov 19: The dollar recovered against the euro late on Wednesday after falling sharply on news that US consumer prices plunged by a record 1.0 per cent in October amid an accelerating global financial crisis.

In late London trading, the European single currency was at $1.2596 -- after jumping as high as $1.2748 and compared with $1.2621 in New York late on Tuesday.

Against the Japanese currency, the dollar fell to 96.86 yen from 96.89 yen on Tuesday.

“We expect the dollar to continue to rally as increasing evidence of economic slowdown in emerging economies fuels dollar-supportive repatriation flows,” wrote analyst Lee Hardman of the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi.

The US consumer price index (CPI) plunged 1.0 percent in October -- the steepest one-month fall since the data was first published in 1947.

Elsewhere, the British pound was steady on news that Bank of England policymakers voted 9-0 to slash British interest rates by a third to 3.00 per cent earlier this month, according to minutes of their meeting.

The BoE had on November 6 slashed its key lending rate from 4.5 per cent to the lowest level in more than half a century, a sign according to economists of a deep recession ahead for Britain.

On the London Bullion Market, the price of gold rose to $762.44 an ounce from $738 late on Tuesday.—AFP