Dollar flounders in Asian trade amid market storm
The dollar fell further in Asian trade Thursday on fresh fears that the worsening global credit crisis would claim more victims on Wall Street, dealers said.
The dollar traded narrowly, changing hands at 104.46 yen in Tokyo afternoon trade from 104.91 in New York late Wednesday after tumbling five percent from a month ago.
The euro strengthened to 1.4368 dollars from 1.4344 but slipped to 150.09 yen from 150.50.
Asian equities suffered another bloodletting following a plunge on Wall Street and European stock markets amid persistent fears over the health of the US and European financial sectors, dealers said.
British bank Lloyds TSB Group announced Thursday it will acquire troubled mortgage lender HBOS for 12.2 billion pounds (22 billion dollars) while markets continued to reel from the collapse of Wall Street titan Lehman Brothers.
"What is happening is mind-blowing and scary for the real economy in the next 10 years," said a London-based Citigroup equity analyst who had watched shares of HBOS nosedive before the merger.
"What is more amazing is the speed that institutions more than 100 years old are capable of crumbling. More than half of the market capitalisation of HBOS was wiped out... in two hours of trading," he said.
The Federal Reserve's 80 percent purchase of giant insurer American International Group (AIG) on Wednesday failed to shore up market confidence, as banking shares continued to plunge.
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