Dollar falls as fiscal cliff worries grow

The dollar dropped to its lowest level against the euro in three months Friday, the euro going above $1.31 as politicians in Washington appeared no closer to averting the economy-crunching fiscal cliff, AFP reports. With just over two weeks to ago before the deadline, markets began to show strains from worries that US leaders will not be able to carve out a compromise deal to beat the year-end deadline to skirt the cliff's harsh mandatory budget cuts and tax hikes. At 2200 GMT, the euro was at $1.3161, compared to $1.3073 late Thursday. The dollar has slipped steadily for a week amid cliff fears and the Federal Reserve's extension of its bond-buying easy monetary accommodation, aimed at sparking more growth in the sluggish US economy. The yen was mixed ahead of Sunday's Japanese general election: the euro gained to 109.94 yen from 109.38 yen, while the dollar slipped to 83.52 yen from 83.64. "According to most reports out of Japan, former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is well ahead in polls and his coalition government should easily take more than 60 percent of the seats in Parliament, leading to Abe's return to the PM seat," said Neal Gilbert of GFT. "Abe has made many declarations that he wants to become more aggressive with monetary policy by lowering interest rates to 0 percent, increasing the inflation target to 3 percent, and increasing the amount of QE (quantitative easing)." Gilbert added that if Abe regains the premiership, the yen's weakness "may be much more long lasting." The dollar slipped against the Swiss franc to 0.9172 francs, while the British pound edged higher to $1.6173.

The dollar dropped to its lowest level against the euro in three months Friday, the euro going above $1.31 as politicians in Washington appeared no closer to averting the economy-crunching fiscal cliff, AFP reports. With just over two weeks to ago before the deadline, markets began to show strains from worries that US leaders will not be able to carve out a compromise deal to beat the year-end deadline to skirt the cliff's harsh mandatory budget cuts and tax hikes. At 2200 GMT, the euro was at $1.3161, compared to $1.3073 late Thursday. The dollar has slipped steadily for a week amid cliff fears and the Federal Reserve's extension of its bond-buying easy monetary accommodation, aimed at sparking more growth in the sluggish US economy. The yen was mixed ahead of Sunday's Japanese general election: the euro gained to 109.94 yen from 109.38 yen, while the dollar slipped to 83.52 yen from 83.64. "According to most reports out of Japan, former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is well ahead in polls and his coalition government should easily take more than 60 percent of the seats in Parliament, leading to Abe's return to the PM seat," said Neal Gilbert of GFT. "Abe has made many declarations that he wants to become more aggressive with monetary policy by lowering interest rates to 0 percent, increasing the inflation target to 3 percent, and increasing the amount of QE (quantitative easing)." Gilbert added that if Abe regains the premiership, the yen's weakness "may be much more long lasting." The dollar slipped against the Swiss franc to 0.9172 francs, while the British pound edged higher to $1.6173.

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