Dollar Plunges 2% Against Yen

The dollar suffered the biggest one-day drop against the yen in 1-1/2 years Thursday after an influential policy-maker in Japan said the Japanese currency’s prolonged bout of weakness may be over.

Other currencies also fell against the yen as traders scrambled to buy it, fearing they had missed a subtle policy shift that meant the yen would now start strengthening. But the dollar took the severest blow.

“We got walloped a little bit,” said Ralph Delzenero, vice president of foreign-exchange marketing at First National Bank of Chicago.

Exchange Currency in Dollars Dollar in foreign currency

Canada .7523 1.3293

France .1959 5.1040

Germany .6614 1.5120

Great Britain 1.6448 .6080

Italy .000658 1519.50

Japan .008961 111.60

Mexico .126374 7.9130