The dollar jumped against major currencies in Tokyo Wednesday after the US Supreme Court issued a ruling seen as clearing the way for George W. Bush's election as the next US president.
The euro fell after the federal Supreme Court reversed a decision by the Florida Supreme Court to order hand recounts of disputed presidential ballots.
Bush's Democrat rival Al Gore was pinning his hopes on the recounts being allowed, to give him a chance of erasing the Republican Texas governor's slender lead in the crucial state of Florida.
"Most of the dealers have decided this ruling favors Bush, so they're buying the US dollar and selling the euro," said ABN Amro currency trader Tatsuro Obata.
At 5:00 PM (0800 GMT) the euro bought 0.8721-24 dollars, down from 0.8793 dollars six hours earlier and 0.8791 dollars in New York late on Tuesday.
"The market perception is that a Bush economic team would be less in favor of joint intervention for the euro," said Vasan Shridhavan, a treasury economist at Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore.
Bush's tax-cutting promises were also favored by investors, the dealers added.
The dollar rose to 112.55-58 Japanese yen, from 111.88-90 yen at 11:00 am and 111.48 yen in New York.
"But some Japanese exporters are selling the dollar as it reaches the 112.50 yen level. If it breaks through this, it could reach 113 yen," Obata said.
Fuji Bank dealer Hideyuki Tsukamoto said: "The dollar has been bought, firstly on the Tankan and now on the outcome in the US presidential election that Bush will finally win."
The yen had fallen earlier after disappointing findings in the Bank of Japan's latest Tankan survey of corporate confidence.
The quarterly Tankan showed the index of confidence among large manufacturers was unchanged in the past three months at plus 10, against market expectations of growth to at least plus 11.
The index of large non-manufacturers' confidence surprisingly fell, going down to minus 10 from minus nine in the previous Tankan.
"The figures are basically no good," said Tsukamoto.
"We have the impression that the (Japanese) economy is stuck in a weak trend without signs of improvement," he said. "That doesn't mean we are in terrible shape, but it simply means the economy is not recovering."
Mitsubishi Trust and Banking dealer Toshihiko Sakai said: "Foreign investors and others have been selling the yen against the euro on the back of the weak Tankan figures."
Against the yen, the euro was quoted at 98.14, up from 98.39 earlier in Tokyo and 97.96 here Tuesday afternoon.
The likelihood of a Bush administration also drove the dollar higher against other Asian currencies in late Singapore trading.
"There's a feeling that the US stock market is going to rise because of the Bush victory," said Lee Boon Keng, a market strategist at DBS Bank in Singapore.
"You are going to see big businesses benefiting tremendously," he said.
The greenback rose to 1.7371 Singapore dollars from 1.7333, 9,525 Indonesian rupiah from 9,425, 49.935 Philippine pesos from 49.860, 43.620 Thai baht from 43.510, and to 1,193.6799 South Korean won from 1,186.80.
It fell to 33.0965 Taiwan dollars from 33.1065 -- TOKYO (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
