Dollar Advances in Nervous Trading

The dollar staged a broad advance in nervous trading Monday and foreign exchange dealers said traders remained edgy about the prospects of further central bank intervention against the U.S. currency.

Gold prices nudged higher. Republic National Bank in New York said gold bullion was bid at $290.20 an ounce, up 20 cents from the late bid Friday.

Trading calmed down from last week, when major central banks in Europe joined forces to dump billions of dollars on world currency markets and halt the dollar’s record-shattering rise.

The dollar turned higher as it became clear that there would be no significant intervention Monday, traders said, but there was no major surge for the currency.

“The market wanted to buy but was afraid of some intervention here and there,” said Joseph Volpicella, foreign exchange manager at the New York branch of Union Bank of Switzerland.