Dollar slides, stocks jump as Trump signals pause on Iran strikes

LONDON, March 23 (Reuters) - The dollar plunged and stocks surged on Monday after U.S. President Donald Trump said he had asked the Department of Defence to postpone "any and all" military strikes against Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure for five days.

The dollar had traded higher against most other currencies until the headline hit, sending the euro EUR= up over 1% into positive territory to $1.158, from around $1.487 earlier. The dollar index fell 0.3%, having shown a 0.6% rise earlier on =USD.

U.S. stock futures jumped over 2%, while the STOXX 600 .STOXX erased daily losses to turn positive. It was last up 0.7%, having been down over 2.2% in early trade.