London — The dollar stayed on the defensive on Thursday, after taking its worst beating in five months on Wednesday. In equity markets, the biggest slump in Chinese stocks in almost two years took the shine off another record high in the global bull run. The nearly 3% drop in China came as its recent bond market worries bled into equities and added to a subdued mood in Europe, where the main bourses opened in the red for the 10th day in the past 13. The pan-European Stoxx 600 slid 0.3% with Britain’s FTSE 100 sinking 0.5% as one of its heavyweight utilities, Centrica, plunged as much as 18% in what could be is biggest daily drop ever. Moves were expected to be minor, with US markets closed for Thanksgiving. Japanese markets were also closed, though in Asia there was certainly no shortage of action. The dollar’s rout took it as low as ¥111.07 after minutes of the Fed’s last meeting showed "many participants" were concerned inflation would stay below the bank’s 2% target for longer th...
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