MW: Dollar lower as U.S. stocks recover some ground
By Deborah Levine, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- The U.S. dollar declined Friday versus major currencies including the euro and British pound as currency markets took the cue from gains in U.S. stocks.
The euro rose to $1.2587, from $1.2453 in late North American trading Thursday.
The British pound advanced to $1.4933, compared to $1.4735 Thursday.
The dollar index , a measure of the greenback against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, fell to 87.658 from 88.233 Thursday.
U.S. stocks on Friday surged on a report President-elect Barack Obama would nominate New York Federal Reserve President Timothy Geithner as Treasury secretary. See Market Snapshot.
"This is the appointment the markets were looking for because all of these programs have come from the Fed or Treasury" as opposed to State or Commerce appointments, said Ira Jersey, an interest-rate strategist at Credit Suisse.
Investors expressed more interest in higher-yielding currencies, including the Canadian dollar and Australian dollar.
The Japanese yen was under some pressure earlier after the Bank of Japan's Policy Board said it would consider new measures to help inject more cash into the financial system. See full story.
Japan's economic activity had "been increasingly sluggish" and the downturn afflicting the No. 2 global economy will persist over the next several quarters.
Officials also voted unanimously Friday to hold its key overnight call rate unchanged at 0.3%, as largely expected.
"The BOJ is signaling that it is taking other measures than interest rate changes to address economic conditions," said Marc Chandler, global head of currency strategy at Brown Brothers Harriman.
The dollar rose to 95.92 yen from 94.15 Thursday.
