Osama's death lifts dollar

Singapore - The dollar
strengthened against the euro in
Asian trade on Tuesday as
markets revelled in the death of
Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin
Laden, analysts said.
One euro bought $1.4818 in
afternoon Asian trade compared
to $1.4824 in New York on
Monday.
Both currencies weakened
against the yen, with the euro
trading at ¥120.02 from ¥120.30
a day ago and the greenback
changing hands at ¥81.00 from
¥81.10.
Japanese financial markets are
closed from Tuesday to Thursday
for a three-day public holiday.
Trading resumes on Friday.
"News of the demise of terrorist
mastermind Osama bin Laden
gave lift to the US dollar today,"
US-based forex research firm
DailyFX said in a report.
US President Barack Obama
announced in a dramatic
televised address Monday that
the mastermind of the World
Trade Centre attacks had been
killed in an operation near
Islamabad.
The United States had been
hunting bin Laden for years, an
effort that was redoubled
following the September 11,
2001 attacks on the World Trade
Center in New York and the
Pentagon, which killed 3 000
people.
However, DailyFX analysts warned
that the fragile nature of the US
economic climate would resume
eating into the dollar's strength
in the near term.
"The dollar's move lacked
conviction and the greenback is
likely to see further weakness on
diverging interest rate
expectations and concerns over
the ballooning US deficit," the
firm cautioned.
The dollar rose to Sg$1.2252
from Sg$1.2230 on Monday, to
29.91 Thai baht from 29.86 and
to 42.82 Philippine pesos from
42.63.
However, the dollar fell to 8
542.00 Indonesian rupiah from 8
548.00 a day ago and to Tw
$28.57 from Tw$28.67.