Dollar Gains in Moderate Trading

The dollar gained against all major currencies in moderate trading Tuesday. Gold declined.

Trading activity was strongest after the U.S. Commerce Department announced that the nation’s gross national product rose at a revised annual rate of 2% in the second quarter of the year, said Gordon Beals, a trader at Prudential-Bache Securities.

“But all that did was shake out some excess fluff,” he said. “It spent the rest of the afternoon slowing sinking back downward.”

“Metals were also under pressure,” Beals said. He suggested that part of the reason may have been a response to the dollar’s overall strength.

In Europe, dealers said the dollar gained because markets had been expecting a downward revision in the second quarter GNP to a 1.3% increase. On July 18, the second quarter figure was revised downward to up 1.7%.