The dollar dropped to a 15-year low versus the yen after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said additional monetary stimulus may be warranted because inflation is too low and unemployment is too high. Australia’s dollar rallied to parity versus the greenback as investors sought higher-returning assets. The greenback was headed for a drop against all of its most-traded counterparts on speculation the central bank will debase the currency further by stepping up quantitative easing. “The market’s reaction is one of confirmation of already highly expected quantitative easing measures,” said Jack Spitz, managing director of foreign exchange at National Bank of Canada in Toronto. “The dollar is being sold off on that.” The dollar dropped 0.4 percent to 81.13 at 8:36 a.m. in New York, from 81.48 yesterday. It touched 80.88, the lowest level since April 1995. The U.S. currency declined 0.3 percent to $1.4125 versus the euro, from $1.4084. The euro traded at 114.55 yen, compared with 114.76 yesterday. “There would appear -- all else being equal -- to be a case for further action,” Bernanke said today in the text of remarks given at a Boston Fed conference. Bernanke said the central bank could expand asset purchases or change the language in its statement, while saying “nonconventional policies have costs and limitations that must be taken into account in judging whether and how aggressively they should be used.” The Dollar Index, used by IntercontinentalExchange Inc. to track the greenback against currencies including the euro, yen and Swiss franc, fell 0.4 percent to 76.309. Weaker Dollar The gauge of the greenback has dropped 5.1 percent since Sept. 21, when the Fed said in a statement following its policy meeting that it’s prepared “to provide additional accommodation if needed” to support the recovery. The U.S. currency headed for a fifth weekly decline versus the euro on speculation the U.S. economic recovery is faltering, supporting traders’ bets that the Fed will increase purchases of government debt to keep interest rates low. To contact the reporter on this story: Catarina Saraiva in New York at asaraiva5@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dave Liedtka at dliedtka@bloomberg.net

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