Dollar Drifts Lower in Quiet Trading
The dollar drifted in a narrow range in quiet, trendless trading Wednesday, ending the day broadly lower against most major currencies to reverse earlier gains.
Gold prices also were mixed. In Hong Kong, gold bullion fell $3.63 to a closing bid of $319.35 an ounce. Republic National Bank of New York said gold bullion was bid at $318.50 an ounce as of 4 p.m. EDT, up 70 cents from the late bid Tuesday.
The Federal Reserve Board said its index of the dollar’s value against 10 other leading currencies was little changed on the day, dipping to 139.31 from 139.37 Tuesday. The index, which is weighted for international trade, stood at 100 in its base period of March, 1973.
Howard Kurz, chief currency trader at Bank of America’s New York trading center, said investors believe that, for the time being, the dollar is locked into a fairly well-defined trading range of between 2.84 West German marks and 2.89 marks.
