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NEW YORK: News that Greece may go cap in hand to the IMF for help with its debt crisis prompted investors to rush for the relative safety of the dollar, which soared against the euro on Thursday.
The euro fetched 1.3603 dollars by 2215 GMT, down more than a US cent on late trading on Wednesday, when it bought 1.3735.
The dollar was slightly up against the yen at 90.39, versus 90.33 late Wednesday.
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou said his country would go to the International Monetary Fund for cash if fellow European Union members failed to step in, sending the euro plummeting to a day low of under 1.36 dollars, before a modest recovery.
"This is where Europe must come in and say 'OK in this case we either can provide what an IMF would provide... or in the end Greece may have to choose the option to go to the IMF,'" Papandreou told the European Parliament in Brussels.
Germany, which has been reluctant to offer any bailout to Greece, hinted that it was open to the idea of letting Athens call in the IMF, a notion dividing the eurozone.
"The euro sold off aggressively after it has become increasingly clear that members of the European Union will be more willing to support Greece in knocking on the doors of the IMF than to dig into their own pocketbooks," said Kathy Lien, director of currency research at Global Forex Trading.
"Germany apparently believes that it would be political suicide to ask their citizens to pay for the problems of another country," she added.
Traders also boosted the dollar on rumours that the Federal Reserve could raise the price of its lending to banks, the so-called discount rate.
The dollar rose to 1.0579 Swiss francs, versus 1.0538 Wednesday, while the British pound dipped to 1.5243 dollars, from 1.5319. - AFP/de
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