U.S. Dollar Gains in Early Trading in Asia

Excessive volatility, uncertainty and turbulence in the global financial markets continue to negatively impact economic growth.  According to some analysts, the U.S. economy is heading towards recession and the Federal Reserve Bank should continue to cut interest rates further to avoid full blown recession.

In early trading on the Asian markets on Thursday, the U.S. Dollar continued its gains against major currencies, partly because, over the past weeks, investors have been buying the

U.S. currency at a low price.  On Thursday, March 20, 2008 at 00:55 GMT, on the Singapore market, the U.S. Dollar traded at 99.00 yen, and the Euro was at $1.5575 compared to 98.87 yen and $1.5610 respectively, in late trading in New York.

Future prices of major commodities such as crude oil and gold fell, following the recovery of the U.S. Dollar.  Crude oil futures fell by 4.4% to $104.48 while gold futures fell by 5.9% to $945.30.  Analysts see the fall in commodities future prices as a correction after gains caused by speculative activities.  However, they believe that the correction in commodity prices will not be severe because of strong demand by countries such as

China and India.