The dollar rose against the British pound on Monday after Britain announced plans to sell government assets, but fell against other major currencies.
Around 16 billion pounds of assets will be sold within the next two years as part of moves to reduce national debt, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said.
The British Treasury expects its deficit to touch 175 billion pounds this year, about 12 percent of national income and the most in the Group of 20 nations.
The Center for Economics and Business Research, a British research group, said benchmark interest rate of Britain would be held at a historic low of 0.5 percent until mid 2001 at least.
This would lead to a continued weak exchange rate, with the pound falling to 1.40 dollars and could temporarily be reaching parity with the euro, the research group said.
Currency trade volume was light on Monday in New York because of the Columbus Day holiday. No economic report was released. Investors are waiting for quarterly profit reports from more major U.S. companies, expecting to see further signs of recovery.
The euro bought 1.4776 dollars in late New York trading compared with 1.4709 dollars it bought late Friday. The pound fell to 1.5786 dollars from 1.5835 dollars.
The dollar fell to 1.0357 Canadian dollars from 1.0441 Canadian dollars, and fell to 1.0271 Swiss francs from 1.0322 Swiss francs. It was unchanged at 89.84 Japanese yen.
