By Sarah Turner , MarketWatch
SYDNEY (MarketWatch) — The U.S. dollar advanced against major rivals on Tuesday, although it fell against the yen after the Japanese government raised its assessment of the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant to the same level as the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
The dollar index (DXY 75.05, -.00, -.00%) , a measure of the U.S. unit against a basket of six other currencies, traded at 75.146, up from 74.989 in late North American trading on Monday.
Buying interest in the U.S. dollar followed news that Japan has upgraded the status of the ongoing crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant to 7, from a previous rating of 5, and that another major aftershock had hit the country. Read more on Japan crisis.
The dollar’s gains came as “risk assets pulled back sharply during the Asia trading session,” according to strategists at RBC Capital. The dollar is traditionally viewed as safe-haven currency in times of crisis.
However, the greenback lost ground against the Japanese yen (USDYEN 84.3400, -0.3100, -0.3662%) , trading at ¥83.82, from ¥84.54 in Monday’s session.
The yen surged after the first massive earthquake hit Japan on March 11, as investors bet that Japanese companies would repatriate capital back to the country to help rebuilding efforts. That eventually led to intervention in the currency markets by the Group of Seven nations to suppress the rapid rise of the yen. Read more on yen intervention.
The euro (EURUSD 1.4435, 0.0000, 0.0000%) traded at $1.4403, down from $1.4445 on Monday. The euro gained 1.6% last week against the dollar, as the European Central Bank made its first interest-rate hike since 2008.
The Australian dollar (AUDUSD 1.0482, -0.0013, -0.1239%) traded at $1.0423, from $1.0520 in late North American trading on Monday, and the British pound (GBPUSD 1.6300, -0.0043, -0.2631%) slipped to $1.6291, from $1.6362 on Monday.
