Intervention Reports Curb Dollar

The dollar fell against most other major currencies in worldwide trading Friday amid rumors the Federal Reserve intervened in the U.S. market and sold dollars.

After the dollar weakened in Europe, rumors erupted in the United States that the Federal Reserve was selling dollars in exchange for West German marks.

Richard Hoenig, spokesman for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which executes the central bank’s foreign-exchange dealings, said it was the Fed’s practice never to comment on whether it intervenes except in its quarterly reports to Congress.

Some currency analysts also said they could not substantiate the rumors.

The dollar was trading at 3.1875 marks at midday when “it slipped to 3.18 marks in a matter of seconds,” said Gary Dorsch, currency analyst at Oppenheimer Rouse Futures Inc. in Chicago. “That tends to suggest someone was in there intervening, although it could have been a large commercial sale.”