Dollar Dips to Four-Month Low against Yen

The U.S. dollar dipped to 79.84 against the Japanese yen in New York trading session on Wednesday, the lowest level in four months.

As nuclear leak continued in some nuclear power plant areas in Japan, the European Union's energy commissioner warned that the situation might go "out of control."

The worsening situation raised the yen's repatriation concerns and pushed up the currency. The dollar slumped to a four-month low of 79.84 against the yen in late trading session, just few steps away from the all-time low of 79.75 set on April 19, 1995.

However, the pair managed to revive above 80 later, as fear of the dollar's oversell emerged.

Meanwhile, the rating agency Moody's downgraded Portugal's long- term debt rating by two notches to A3 from A1, saying that the country's ability to avoid a fiscal bailout is doubted.

The euro fell below 1.40 against the dollar but still held the level of 1.39 in late trading session on Wednesday.

The British pound was also hurt as data showed that the country 's unemployment rate rose to 8 percent from 7.9 percent in the three months ending in January.

However, disappointing U.S. data limited the greenback's gain against its counterparts. The Commerce Department said the U.S. housing starts fell 22.5 percent in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 479,000, just 0.4 percent above the record low of 477,000 units set in April 2009.

Also, the producer price index jumped 1.6 percent in January and the current account deficit narrowed to 113.3 billion dollars in the fourth quarter.

In late Wednesday trading, the dollar bought 80.11 yen, comparing with 80.83 late Tuesday, and the euro fell to 1.3906 dollars from 1.4000.

The British pound also fell to 1.6026 dollars from 1.6092. The dollar fell from 0.9175 to 0.9097 against the Swiss franc, but rose to 0.9916 Canadian dollars from 0.9824.