The dollar fell sharply against other major currencies today after policy makers of the world's top industrial nations called for a stop to government intervention in currency markets.
The euro rallied to an eight-week high against the dollar at $1.1495, and the yen staged a meteoric rally to near three-year highs against the dollar on speculation Japan would halt selling yen to protect Japanese exporters.
The G7 called for more exchange rate flexibility to help iron out global economic imbalances and markets interpreted its statement as criticism of persistent intervention by Asian countries to weaken their currencies and boost domestic exports.
"This was a very important G7 meeting. Japan is recovering, the US is having a jobless recovery and euroland's recovery is not impressive at all. In this context, the G7, which previously had never agreed on anything, now agreed on [a flexible exchange regime]" said Mr Stephen Jen, chief currency economist at Morgan Stanley in London.
"The strong dollar policy is now officially declared dead and the dollar index will correct lower. But I don't think Japan will stop intervening - especially because if all of Asia ceases to intervene, it will certainly lead to the collapse of the dollar."
The G7 reaffirmed that exchange rates should reflect economic fundamentals, rather than issuing its usual promise to "monitor exchange markets closely and co-operate as appropriate".
The G7 did not mention specific currencies in its statement, but analysts interpreted it as direct criticism of China and Japan, prompting speculation Japan will find it difficult to conduct aggressive currency intervention in the future.