Dollar Up in Quiet Trading; Gold Falls

The dollar rose against major foreign currencies in quiet trading Friday. The price of gold fell.

Republic National Bank of New York said that gold bullion was bid at $322.50 an ounce, down 50 cents from Thursday.

The dollar traded in a narrow range before closing below its highs of the day.

Currency dealers said trading generally was subdued, as it usually is close to the end of the year, because investors wanted to avoid eroding profits that they had made over the past 11 months.

Carmine Rotondo, chief corporate trader for Manufacturers Hanover Trust in New York, said that, although the dollar generally had declined for several months against other currencies, it now was at a level many traders believed would hold through the end of the year.

Gary Dorsch, senior money-market analyst for G. H. Miller & Co. in Chicago, said fading hopes for the Federal Reserve to cut the 7.5% discount rate that it charges on its loans to banks had helped support the dollar at the lower levels.