Early trade in New York: dollar gains on stock slide

The dollar rose on Thursday, as a sharp decline in stocks lured investors into the safe-haven US currency and on speculation the head of the Federal Reserve will not signal new initiatives to stimulate the economy. The dollar rose 0.6 percent to 77.39 yen, moving further off a record low of 75.941 set on trading platform EBS last week.
The dollar also hit a one-week high against the Swiss franc of 0.79898 franc before paring back to 0.7970, up 0.2 percent. Australian and New Zealand dollars after an initial knee-jerk drop. The euro last traded down 0.3 percent at $1.4371.