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The dollar rose against most major currencies on Monday as investors worried about the outbreak of swine flu.
At least 103 people in Mexico died out of about 1,600 suspected swine flu cases in Mexico. There were 40 confirmed cases of the swine flu across several states in the U.S.
The World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday raised its pandemic alert level from Phase 3 to Phase 4, warning of a significant increase in the risk of a pandemic.
Investors worried that a possible pandemic may deal another severe blow to the struggling global economy, reverse any progress of recovery. Transportation, food and tourism industry would be badly hurt as consumers cut spending further in a pandemic.
Brian Bethune, economist at research group HIS Global Insight, said the U.S. economy would contact by an extra 0.3 percent this year in a worst-case scenario of swine flu.
There were no important economic data released on Monday. Worries over swine flu boosted risk aversion in foreign exchange trading, driving capital into safe-haven currencies -- the U.S. dollar and the yen.
The euro bought 1.3019 dollars in late New York trading compared with 1.3252 dollars it bought late Friday. The pound fell to 1.4633 dollars from 1.4675 dollars.
The dollar rose to 1.2197 Canadian dollars from 1.2078 Canadian dollars, and rose to 1.1568 Swiss francs from 1.1386 Swiss francs. It fell to 96.74 Japanese yen from 97.07 Japanese yen. |
