Foreign Exchange for Thursday, July 25, 1985 : Dollar Drifts in Narrow Range

The dollar turned in a mixed performance Thursday, drifting in a narrow range in trendless trading.

A Federal Reserve Board report late in the day of an unusually large $4.8-billion decline in the basic U.S. money supply had little impact on after-hours exchange rates.

Gold prices also were little changed in listless trading. Republic National Bank of New York said gold bullion was bid at $319 an ounce as of 4 p.m. EDT, up 50 cents.

Currency dealers said that with trading light and the outlook for the dollar unclear, the U.S. currency was stuck in a narrow range.

Ronald Holzer, chief currency trader at Harris Trust & Savings Bank in Chicago, said the dollar was getting support from a perception that “the worst of the economic news is behind us” in the United States.

He also said an encouraging sign was that the dollar was not losing ground on any negative news.