Dollar gains on yen
The dollar rose against the yen in Asian trade Wednesday on news that US tycoon Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway has agreed to buy five billion dollars of stock in Goldman Sachs.
But the greenback was lower against the euro as concerns lingered that a US financial sector rescue plan was getting bogged down in political bickering.
The dollar climbed to 105.82 yen in Tokyo afternoon trade from 105.49 late Tuesday in New York. The euro gained to 1.4668 dollars from 1.4657 and to 155.21 yen from 154.64.
"Many players probably started the Tokyo session convinced that the yen would rise" on fears that US Congress may block swift passage of the bank bailout plan, Barclays Capital trader Motonari Ogawa told Dow Jones Newswires.
"But then the news about Goldman Sachs came out, forcing them to buy back" other currencies against the yen, he said.
The market was nervous after US lawmakers stiffened their opposition to the Treasury's 700-billion-dollar proposal to buy bad mortgage-backed debt from struggling Wall Street investment giants, dealers said.
Japan's central bank injected an additional 1.5 trillion yen (14.2 billion dollars) into the Tokyo money market after worries about a US financial rescue plan sparked fresh turmoil on global bourses.
"With the bailout plan bogged down in continuing discussions with the Congress, there hasn't been much easing in bank funding pressures," noted National Australia Bank currency strategist John Kyriakopoulos.
The cost of the rescue has also raised concerns among investors about where the money will ultimately come from.
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