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CORRECTED: Dollar falls to 2-week low on disappointment over G-7 statement+
(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) TOKYO, April 14_(Kyodo) _ The U.S. dollar fell to a two-week low in the mid-100 yen level Monday in Tokyo as investors were disappointed by a Group of Seven financial leaders' statement issued after their one-day meeting Friday stating explicit concern about recent volatile currency movements.
At 5 p.m., the dollar was quoted at 100.53-56 yen against Friday's 5 p.m. quotes of 100.95-101.05 yen in New York and 101.80-82 yen in Tokyo.
The dollar moved between 100.45 yen and 101.51 yen, changing hands most frequently at 101.42 yen. It last hit the mid-100 yen level in Tokyo on April 1.
The euro traded at $1.5783-5786 and 158.70-74 yen against late Friday's quotes of $1.5805-5815 and 159.63-73 yen in New York and $1.5825-5827 and 161.10-14 yen in Tokyo.
The dollar briefly rose to the mid-101 yen level in the morning and remained firm against the euro as some investors pinned their hopes on possible joint intervention in the foreign exchange market by monetary authorities after the G-7 financial leaders changed the wording regarding the currency market in their statement for the first time in over four years, dealers said.
"Since our last meeting, there have been at times sharp fluctuations in major currencies, and we are concerned about their possible implications for economic and financial stability," the joint statement said.
But Daisuke Uno, chief market strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., said most market players see actual intervention as unlikely and are dissatisfied with the failure to specifically mention the ailing dollar, which tumbled at one point in mid-March to the 95 yen level.
The G-7, which groups Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States, also pledged to implement numerous measures to promote more thorough risk disclosures by financial institutions within a specific time frame of 100 days.
But the dollar tumbled to the mid-100 yen level as skepticism prevailed regarding whether the stated measures will be implemented swiftly and whether they will prove sufficient to solve the credit woes roiling financial markets worldwide.
"The expression (of the joint statement) has certainly changed, but the fundamental causes of the weak dollar such as global imbalances, the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis and the problems of financial institutions have not really changed," said Masafumi Yamamoto, head of foreign exchange strategy at the Royal Bank of Scotland.
Amid market reservations regarding the announced G-7 measures, Uno said the dollar could drop to as low as 99.50 yen during the week depending on the results of a series of 2008 first-quarter earnings reports from major U.S. financial institutions including Merrill Lynch & Co. and Citigroup Inc, due out later this week.
A plunge of more than 400 points in Japan's key Nikkei stock index also prompted some investors to hedge risks by selling the dollar and other high-yielding currencies for the yen, dealers said.
Copyright ? 2008 Kyodo News International, Inc.
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