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The dollar opened the week up on the euro amid bailout plans for two key European lending institutions, as the effects of the financial crisis on Wall Street were keenly felt across the Atlantic.

The 15-nation euro slid to $1.4406 in early European trading Monday, down from the $1.4618 it bought in late New York trading Friday.

Germany’s financial regulators and several banks stepped in Monday to throw a line of credit to Hypo Real Estate Holding AG in a multibillion euro move aimed at shielding Germany’s No. 2 commercial property lender from going under.

That came a day after Dutch-Belgian bank and insurance company Fortis NV was given a $16.4 billion lifeline to avert insolvency as part of a wider bailout plan agreed to by Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

"The dollar (is) finding upside off the back of the progress from the Fed’s bail out plan whilst the euro and pound are both under pressure as the credit crisis once again casts a shadow on this side of the Atlantic," said Gary Thomson, a currency trader with CMC Markets.

"With (U.K payday loans. bank) Bradford & Bingley being nationalized and Fortis being multi-nationalized, it’s a clear reminder that the problem continues to roll on and most certainly isn’t ring fenced across the Atlantic."

In other currencies, the British pound bought $1.8188, down from the $1.8426 on Friday. The dollar held largely steady against the Japanese yen to ¥106.30 from ¥106.06 Friday. 

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