The euro rose over a third of 1 per cent against the dollar and the yen today, taking advantage of weak economic reports and heavy stock losses in the US and Japan.
The dollar fell to one-week lows against the euro as a another senior US industrialist called for a weaker dollar and after the US Federal Reserve's Beige Book survey of the US economy released yesterday found little sign of a pick-up in activity.
"The Beige book in the US was really disappointing, that dragged US stocks down and hit the dollar. That carried through to the Nikkei and hit the yen, also hit by weak economic data," said ABN AMRO currency strategist Mr Ian Gunner.
A bleak outlook from high-tech giant Cisco Systems also took its toll on Tokyo shares, sending the Nikkei index down by over 3 per cent. The US Nasdaq index closed down by about the same amount yesterday.
US General Motors vice-chairman Mr John Devine added to calls from academics, market economists and industrialists for a lower dollar. But analysts said this could only hurt already gloomy sentiment about the greenback.
Mr Devine said the strong dollar was destroying US manufacturing.