FOREX: Low-yielding Currency Boosted

Sydney, Dec 9, 2009 AEST (ABN Newswire) - The U.S dollar rose Tuesday while US shares fell into the red. Worries over the financial health of several governments pushed investors to sell riskier assets but shifted to safe-haven US dollar.

Credit rating agency Moody's Investors Services said public finances in the U.S. and the U.K. were deteriorating. Meanwhile, Moody's also further cut its ratings on six Dubai state-linked companies.

Euro fell against US dollar to a below US$1.47 level as Fitch Ratings downgraded Greece's debt rating to BBB+ from A-, the first time in 10 years a major ratings agency has put Greece below an A grade. On Monday, Standard & Poor's warned it might downgrade its rating on Greece's national debt. Data showing German industrial output fell unexpectedly in October also weighed on the euro.

The high yielding Australian dollar also declined this morning after Wall Street's tumble. At 0700 AEDT, the Australian dollar was trading at $US0.9026/28, down 1.11 per cent from Tuesday's close of $US0.9126/29. The yen also tend to gain, stabilizing at above 88.35 per dollar. Japan's third-quarter revised gross domestic product (GDP) numbers are due to be released and analysts expect the economy to have grown at a much slower pace than its initial estimate.