American focus: euro rose, dollar dropped, Swiss franc strengthened

The euro rose the most in more than a year against the dollar after French and German leaders pledged to deliver a plan to support banks and repeated a commitment to keep Greece in the single-currency bloc. The shared currency also advanced as Belgium agreed to buy the local consumer-lending unit of Dexia SA, ending a 15-year cross-border experiment with France after the European debt crisis deepened. The euro stayed higher even as a report showed European investor confidence fell to the lowest in more than two years.

The dollar dropped against all of its major counterparts as global stocks advanced, sapping demand for the greenback as a haven.

Currencies of commodity-exporting countries rallied as raw materials gained. Australia’s dollar advanced to the highest level in almost two weeks against its U.S. counterpart, rising to as much as 99.82 U.S. cents before trading up 2.2 percent at 99.79 cents. Canada’s dollar strengthened 1.3 percent to C$1.0257 per U.S. dollar.

The Swiss franc strengthened against the euro by the most since Sept. 5, the day before the Swiss National Bank imposed a ceiling of 1.20 versus the common currency and resumed purchases of foreign currencies to curb the franc’s advance. The franc rose 0.4 percent to 1.2361 per euro and was the best performer among the major currencies. The SNB may raise its ceiling for the franc to 1.30 per euro from 1.20 per euro, according to the private-banking unit of JPMorgan Chase & Co.