TOKYO, Nov 13: The dollar rose against the yen Tuesday on relief a deadly passenger plane crash in New York was unlikely to have been caused by terrorists as well as news that Taliban forces were fleeing Kabul, dealers said.

The greenback was trading at 121.17-19 yen, up from 120.57-59 yen in Tokyo late Monday. Financial markets in New York were closed Monday for a public holiday.

Investors bought the dollar as they suspected the plane crash was an accident, said Hirokazu Node, dealer at Sumitomo Mitsui Bank.

Given the terrorist attacks (on September 11), investors were jittery over the crash initially, but they were relieved as US authorities were saying it was an accident, Node said.

An American Airlines Airbus A300 slammed into a New York City residential area Monday, killing all 260 people on board and destroying homes on the ground.

Speculation immediately centred on a possible new terror attack after two hijacked jets flew into New York’s World Trade Centre, killing almost 5,000 people on September 11, but officials said early signs pointed to catastrophic mechanical failure.

Japanese State Minister for Economic and Fiscal Policy Heizo Takenaka said Tuesday he did not expect the foreign exchange market to be affected by the crash.

It is necessary to see economic leads that provide mid-term impact on the market, he said.

The report (of the fall of Kabul) pushed up the dollar slightly, said Yoshihiro Nomura, dealer at Mizuho Trust Bank.

Dealers generally agreed, adding the dollar was relatively well supported as investors speculated the Japanese government would intervene in the market if the yen rises too rapidly.

Meanwhile, the euro bought $0.8880-82 down from $0.8935-37 in Tokyo late Monday.

Earlier, the euro gained against the dollar in overnight trading on initial fears that the latest plane crash in the United States was caused by a terrorist attack, a dealer with BNP Paribas in Singapore said.

Later when reports indicated that it was an accident the dollar regained its bearing. But overall the market is still clueless and is trading in a tight range, he said.

Against the yen, the euro was quoted at 107.59, against 107.82 in Tokyo Monday afternoon.

In late Singapore trade, the US dollar was steady at 52.095 Philippine pesos, but fell to 10,665 Indonesian rupiah from 10,685.

It rose to 34.507 Taiwan dollars from 34.499, 1,287.35 South Korean won from 1,284.50, 44.435 Thai baht from 44.382, and 1.8258 Singapore dollars from 1.8254.—AFP