The dollar rose the most in a week against the euro after Russia's Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said the nation has full confidence in the U.S. currency.
The greenback advanced against 15 of the 16 major currencies as Kudrin said in an interview on June 13 that it was too early to speak of an alternative to the world's reserve currency. The euro extended losses against the dollar after Britain's Telegraph newspaper cited Germany's top industrial group as saying credit conditions in Europe's largest economy are worsening. The yen strengthened as Asian stocks slid, boosting demand for the relative safety of Japan's currency.
The dollar rose 0.9 percent to $1.3897 per euro as of 7:59 a.m. in London from $1.4016 in New York last week. That was the biggest gain since June 5. The U.S. currency advanced to $1.6352 per British pound from $1.6443, and climbed to 1.0876 Swiss francs from 1.0791 francs.
The euro weakened to 136.63 yen from 137.89 yen. The Australian dollar dropped 1.1 percent to 79.07 yen and the New Zealand dollar weakened 1.2 percent to 62.52 yen. The yen traded at 98.32 per dollar from 98.43.
Gold declined to the lowest in more than three weeks as a rallying dollar eroded interest in the precious metal as a haven investment. Gold for immediate delivery fell as much as 0.7 percent to $933.13 an ounce, the lowest since May 20, and was at $933.57 an ounce by 1:59 p.m. in Singapore.
