Dollar falls on anxiety over U.S. bailout plan

NEW YORK, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) — The dollar fell against major currencies on Monday on anxiety over the 700 billion dollar bailout plan of U.S. government.

The Bush administration asked U.S. Congress on Saturday for 700billion dollars to bail out firms burdened with bad mortgage debt in a bid to rescue financial institutions crippled by loss of mortgage-related assets and securities.

U.S. stocks tumbled on Monday, as investors grew nervous about the plan. The greenback fell across the board amid worries that U.S. budget deficit would worsen if the plan were approved. It was also under pressure from oil prices, which jumped more than 25 dollars on Monday.

Analysts said foreign investors would be increasingly reluctant to finance the growing U.S. deficit at the current dollar exchange rate and that funding the gap would require higher interest rates and a weaker currency.

The euro bought 1.4804 dollars in late New York trading compared with 1.4470 dollars it bought late Friday. The British pound rose to 1.8584 dollars from 1.8365 dollars.

The dollar fell to 1.0760 Swiss francs from 1.1024 Swiss francs, and fell to 105.40 Japanese yen from 107.01 Japanese yen. It fell to 1.0326 Canadian dollars from 1.0499 Canadian dollars.