Dollar Rises to New High Against Yen

The dollar rose to a 5 1/2-year high against the yen after a closely watched Bank of Japan report showed business managers are extremely pessimistic about the nation’s economy. The central bank today released its quarterly “tankan” survey of business sentiment, whose diffusion index for major manufacturers fell to minus 11--substantially worse than expected--from 3 in the September report. The dollar gradually rose as high as 130.98 yen, its highest since May 13, 1992. It was recently quoted at 130.89 yen, up from 130.33 yen in late New York trading Friday. It was quoted at 1.7785 marks, compared with 1.7765 marks in New York.