Technical Factors Aid Dollar; Gold Up

The dollar, boosted by such technical factors as trends on exchange-rate charts, rose strongly against all major currencies except the Canadian dollar in light trading Friday.

Gold prices also rose. Bullion was quoted at $341 an ounce as of 4 p.m. EDT by Republic National Bank of New York, up $2.50 an ounce from Thursday’s late bid.

“The dollar was higher. A lot of it was brought up by technical factors in absence of fundamental news,” said William Orsini, manager of commercial foreign exchange at the New York branch of Bank of Montreal. Technical traders “were looking at a higher dollar, and they took the dollar higher in a thinner market,” he said.

Earl Johnson, a vice president at Harris Trust & Savings Bank in Chicago, said trends on charts kept by technical analysts of exchange rates all pointed toward a higher dollar and were dominating the market.

Currency dealers said there was little reaction to news that the U.S. consumer price index rose 0.2% in May.