Dollar Shrugs Off Intervention, Gains

The dollar advanced against most major currencies in trading at home and abroad Wednesday despite intervention by central banks.

Gold prices fell. Republic National Bank quoted gold bullion at $323.50 an ounce as of 4 p.m. EDT, down from Tuesday’s late bid of $326.

Currency dealers said the dollar moved sharply higher during the U.S. session and peaked at about 2.695 West German marks. By late in the day in New York, however, the dollar had backed off to 2.6686 marks, which was still higher than the rate of 2.66725 marks late Tuesday.

There were signs that the central banks had intervened against the dollar.

The West German central bank sold about $150 million on the open market to stem the dollar’s rise, dealers said. The U.S. Federal Reserve Board also was detected selling an undisclosed amount of dollars in Tokyo and then later in New York, they added. Earlier, currency dealers reported that the Bank of Japan sold a small amount of dollars in Asia.