Foreign Exchange for Wednesday, Jan. 16, 1985 : Dollar Drifts Lower; Gold Edges Up

The U.S. dollar drifted lower against most major currencies in nervous activity Wednesday as trader attention focused on separate meetings of world financial leaders scheduled for today in the United States and West Germany

The price of gold nudged higher on world bullion exchanges.

Republic National Bank in New York said gold was bid at $303.80 an Wednesday afternoon, up 10 cents from the earlier close of the New York Commodity Exchange and a gain of $2.55 from the late bid Tuesday.

The British pound, which dipped to a record low $1.10 in Far East trading on Monday, steadied at $1.1205 in late London trading Wednesday, unchanged from late Tuesday. Later in New York, sterling was quoted at $1.11925, a slight gain from Tuesday’s late rate of $1.11875.

A year ago, the pound was quoted at more than $1.40. Five years ago it was about $2.40.