Bin Laden's death lifts dollar

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SINGAPORE: The dollar strengthened against the euro in Asian trade 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 yen from 120.30 a day ago and the greenback changing hands at 81.00 yen 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 greenback'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 greenback fell to 8,542.00 Indonesian rupiah from 8,548.00 a day ago and to Tw$28.57 from Tw$28.67. (AFP)