U.S. dollar falls against major currencies

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

NEW YORK, Dec. 15 (Chinese media) -- The U.S. dollar fell against major currencies

Monday amid uncertainties over the U.S. auto industry bailout plan and the

growing list of victims of the Madoff scandal.

The euro bought 1.3665 dollars in late New York trading compared with

1.3371 dollars it bought late Friday. The pound rose to 1.5253 dollars from

1.4969 dollars.

The dollar fell to 1.2389 Canadian dollars from 1.2432, and fell to 90.60

Japanese yen from 91.12.

The White House said Monday it was studying options for a bailout of the

U.S. auto industry, but did not indicate when an announcement would be made.

A Treasury Department official said no decisions had been taken on what

type of support to provide major automakers.

A 14-billion-dollar auto bailout proposal was approved by the House but

rejected by the Senate last week.

Meanwhile, market confidence was hurt as the victims' list of legendary

investment manager Bernard Madoff continued to grow. Banks and financial

institutions including HSBC, BNP Paribas, Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC and

hedge fund Man Group PLC were revealed to have been exposed to Madoff's fund.

Madoff was arrested last Thursday on accusations of running a giant Ponzi

scheme that could amount to 50 billion dollars.

The U.S. Federal Reserve was widely expected to cut its key rate by 50

basis points to 0.5 percent Tuesday. It would be the first time that the federal

funds rate falls below 1 percent.