Dollar Declines in U.S.; Gold Rises

The dollar moved mostly lower in the United States on Wednesday after making modest advances overseas. Uncertainties about the U.S. economy and about the impact the Iran arms sale controversy will have on the Reagan Administration continued to weigh on the markets, traders said. Gold prices fell in Hong Kong but later recovered on European and U.S. markets. At Republic National Bank in New York, gold bullion was $391.75 an ounce, up $3 from Tuesday.

A currency trader in New York for Hill Samuel International Banking Corp., a London-based financial services company, said the dollar drifted down after the Commerce Department reported that sales of new homes fell 9.6% in October.

The housing report raised fresh doubts about the strength of the economy.

It followed news Tuesday that the government’s chief economic forecasting gauge, the Index of Leading Indicators, rose 0.6% in October, a gain attributed largely to special factors that did not necessarily point to robust health.