The market is totally panicking," said a trader at a big Japanese bank. "The fact that the Fed had to announce its emergency steps on Sunday night highlighted the seriousness of the situation."
The dollar fell to 95.77 yen on electronic trading platform EBS, down more than 3 percent on the day, before rebounding to 96.20 yen. The U.S. currency was on track to posting its biggest drop of the year against the Japanese unit.
The euro hit a fresh peak of $1.5905 on EBS but then retreated to $1.5866, up 1.2 percent.
The dollar dropped as low as 0.9572 Swiss franc, an all-time low, then rebounded to 0.9715, down 2.7 percent.
Deepening concerns about the U.S. financial system prompted investors to shift their funds to safe-haven gold, boosting spot gold to a record peak over $1,030 per ounce.
TOKYO, March 17 (Reuters) – Japan's government struggled to resolve a deadlock over a new central bank chief on Monday, just two days before the current governor retires, but chances of a breakthrough were unclear even as market turmoil took the dollar to fresh lows and battered Tokyo stocks.
