Ottawa Citizen

People seek refuge' in U.S. greenback, Martin allows

TORONTO -- Global economic uncertainty pummelled more of the wealth out of stock markets yesterday, including Canada's, and knocked more of the value out of virtually all non-U.S. currencies, including the Canadian dollar.

Despite declarations of underlying economic strength by Finance Minister Paul Martin, and a relatively rosy forecast by the country's largest bank, the dollar fell as low as 63.19 cents U.S. before edging up to close unchanged at 63.32 cents U.S., one-100th of a point above its record low close during the 1998 Asian crisis.

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), April 04, 2001