That set off a chain reaction through the region that has seen currencies and stock markets tumble in several nations.

The currency, the real, tumbled well past the psychological barrier of 2 to the dollar.

The currency, the rupiah, has tumbled 25 percent since January and now trades at levels reminiscent of the Asian economic crisis.

But the Greek currency tumbled to 149.91 drachma to the mark from 148.98 at the Thursday close.

The local currency had tumbled six hundred percent in the previous year, making Sudan the cheapest country in the Arab world.

Stock markets throughout Latin America rebounded strongly today on hopes that Brazil's currency would not tumble out of control.

Indonesia's currency and stock market tumbled amid fears that the military action would provoke a backlash from Islamic militants.

Medicine in the region is often imported, and thus has sometimes doubled or even quadrupled in price when local currencies tumbled against the dollar.

Japan's currency initially tumbled more than 1 percent in response to the action, taken by the central bank after an unusually long monthly meeting of its policy board.

The nation's currency is tumbling.