New York - The US dollar fell broadly on Tuesday, breaking through milestone lows against the yen, euro and Swiss franc on a combination of political and technical factors while global stocks ended flat, taking little solace in upbeat US retail sales data.
Safe-haven trades boosted gold to record highs and supported government debt prices. Oil fell.
The negative bias in stocks was seen carrying over into Japanese trade for Wednesday as the December futures contract for the Nikkei 225 stock index trading in Chicago fell 50 points to 9 280.
In currency markets, the greenback stumbled to a 15-year low after Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan won an unexpectedly decisive victory in a ruling party vote. Markets were braced for a shift toward yen intervention if Kan lost the contest to a rival who argued more forcefully for a weaker currency.
The yen traded at one point below 83 per US dollar and the euro hit a one-month high against the greenback, breaking above $1.30. The dollar sliced through parity against the Swiss franc, dropping to its lowest level since late November.
"It seems people are vacating dollar positions today and that money is shifting into other safe-haven assets for the time being - the yen, the Swiss franc, gold and US Treasuries," said Greg Salvaggio, vice president of trading at Tempus Consulting in Washington.
After a see-saw session, US share prices ended mostly lower. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 17.64 points, or 0.17%, to 10 526.49. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index lost 0.80 point, or 0.07%, to 1 121.10. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 4.06 points, or 0.18%, to 2 289.77.
Stronger-than-expected US retail sales and a raised outlook from US electronics retailer Best Buy helped limit equity sales by investors looking to lock in profits. FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares ended the session down 0.03% at 1 087.63 in a choppy session after closing on Monday at its highest level since late April.
Outsource firm Capita rose 2.87% after investors were reassured about public sector contracts, while Dutch group Philips fell 3.86% after announcing what analysts said were unambitious growth targets.
MSCI's All-Country World Index, however, edged up to a four-month high, gaining 0.34%.
Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei-225 stock index finished down 0.24%.
