TOKYO: The dollar slumped below the key 90-yen level on Friday for the first time in 13 years after the US Senate failed to pass a rescue plan
for ailing automakers, sending stock markets tumbling.
The dollar dropped to as low as 88.43 yen after hours of late-night negotiations among US senators on an auto sector bailout collapsed, sending investors flocking to safe havens such as the Japanese currency.
The last time the greenback was so low was in August 1995. It later rebounded slightly to stand at 89.04 yen.
Japanese officials fired a warning shot to currency traders, saying the yen was rising too quickly.
"The currency moves are excessive and I'm concerned about it," Naoyuki Shinohara, vice finance minister for international affairs, told reporters.
But he declined to comment on whether Japan might intervene to sell yen to curb the currency's rise, which is bad news for exporters already struggling due to weak exports and a recession in Asia's largest economy.
Japan's monetary authorities have not intervened since March 2004, allowing the yen to find its own level against the dollar.
