Dollar Rises on News of Escalating Turmoil in Russia : Markets: Tokyo’s Nikkei index loses ground, but reaction is mostly muted. Gold inches higher.

Reports of armed troops and gun battles in Moscow pushed the dollar higher in early Far Eastern trading today. But Asian stock markets mostly yawned at the news.

At midday Monday, the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s Nikkei index was off just 47.31 points to 20,235.82. And in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index ignored the Russian turmoil, rising 38 points to a record 7,714.99 in early trading.

“I think we’d have to see a much wider confrontation than we’ve seen” in Russia before the Japanese market takes a dive, said Christian Howes, a salesman at brokerage Smith New Court. “We’ve definitely had less of a concern . . . than people had initially anticipated.”

Gold, meanwhile, did appear to get a slight boost from the Russian situation. Bullion opened in Hong Kong at $358.26 an ounce, up from Friday’s New York close of $355.

The dollar was the biggest beneficiary: In early trading in Singapore, it surged to about 1.650 German marks, up sharply from Friday’s close of 1.631 in New York. The dollar also inched up against the Japanese yen.

Traditionally, the dollar and dollar-denominated assets such as U.S. Treasury bills are seen as safe havens for international investors in times of crisis. Traders noted that the dollar was benefiting from this trend as traders sold German marks, considered vulnerable because of Germany’s close economic links with Russia.

The 13-day political standoff between Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin and Vice President Alexander Rutskoi worsened dramatically Sunday when anti-Yeltsin protesters seized a television station and battled with pro-Yeltsin forces.

Financial markets have had a mixed reaction since Yeltsin disbanded Parliament on Sept. 21 and Rutskoi’s supporters stayed defiantly inside the building.

In the United States, the Dow Jones industrial average dropped nearly 39 points after the initial confrontation but has since more than recovered that ground.

Some analysts said that as the Russian crisis wears on, investors are likely to lose their fear of it, simply because the shock value dissipates. “This is the type of thing where every six hours you’re going to get a new development,” said Raymond Worseck, economist at A.G. Edwards & Sons.

Analysts also note that many Americans are conditioned to buy on market dips, especially those caused by foreign events whose near-term effects on the U.S. economy and U.S. markets are likely to be minor.