Dollar strengthens against euro, yen

The dollar strengthened this morning, joining buoyant equity and credit markets in shrugging off last week's soft US jobs data…

The dollar strengthened this morning, joining buoyant equity and credit markets in shrugging off last week's soft US jobs data as investors took heart from central bank efforts to alleviate the global credit crunch.

The dollar rose to $1.567 against the euro and to 102.65 yen, a rise of 1.2 per cent.

Central bankers and finance ministers from the Group of Seven rich nations meet in Washington later this week and are expected to discuss a broad range of proposals aimed at restoring confidence in the battered banking system.

These measures include raising transparency, tightening standards on banks' securitisation, increasing authorities' oversight powers and even more drastic steps such as bank bailouts for worst-case scenarios.

The European Central Bank sets interest rates on Thursday and is widely expected to leave its key rate on hold at 4 per cent.

Although there are some signs of the 15-nation economy starting to succumb to the broader effects of the credit crisis, growth has so far held up relatively well.

What's more, inflation is running at 3.5 per cent - the highest since the euro was launched almost a decade ago and well above the ECB's target of close to but below 2 per cent.

The Bank of England is expected to cut rates a quarter percentage point on Thursday to 5 per cent.