Dollar climbs in Asia

The dollar climbed to a seven-month high against major currencies after the Federal Reserve said there were "significant downside risks" for the US economy, but it stopped short of bold monetary easing, instead shifting its portfolio in favour of long-term debt.
Although few analysts expected the Fed to embark on another round of quantitative easing, the central bank's reluctance to expand its balance sheet prompted sharp falls in shares, commodities and risk-related currencies such as the euro and the Australian dollar. As investors viewed the Fed's move as a drop in the ocean and called it insufficient to spur a sustained economic recovery, they shifted aggressively into the liquid US dollar.
The dollar index, the gauge of its performance against a basket of currencies, jumped to 78.051, its highest since late February. The news prompted investors to pull more funds out of the growth-linked Australian dollar, sending it below parity at $0.9990, its lowest since August 9.
The euro also edged back towards a seven-month low of $1.3495 hit last week, coming off an overnight peak of $1.3800 to trade at $1.3543 with bears targeting stop-loss orders lurking around $1.3500. The euro also hovered not far from a 10-year trough against the yen hit earlier in the session at 103.67, despite demand from Japanese retail investors. It last stood at 103.89.
The dollar hit its session high of 76.97 yen on stop-loss buying by model funds, halting its rally just above Wednesday's peak of 76.86 yen and resistance on daily Ichimoku charts in the 76.85 to 76.90 area. Against the Swiss franc, the dollar edged to a five-month high, adding to gains of 1.5 percent made overnight to stand at 0.9022 francs . It was pushed up by the euro, which also gained versus the Swissie on talk that the Swiss National Bank may lift its euro/Swiss target to 1.25 from 1.20. The SNB declined comment. The euro last traded steady at 1.2215 francs. The New Zealand dollar shed 0.7 percent to $0.7977, off an $0.8241 peak hit the day before.