Dollar Mostly Higher in United States

The U.S. dollar mostly was higher against other major currencies in listless year-end trading Thursday. Gold prices also gained.

Gold bullion was quoted at $390 an ounce at Republic National Bank, up 70 cents from Wednesday.

“The market is very thin--in holiday trading already,” said George DeLuna, a currency analyst at Irving Trust. “People who have profits want to keep them and those who don’t, unfortunately, know there’s not much chance to get back in.”

“We’re locked in a trading range. We test the top and try to break out, bounce back to the lower end, and bounce back from that,” he said.

European foreign exchange dealers attributed the dollar’s rise to Thursday’s report by the U.S. Commerce Department that U.S. retail sales gained 0.5% last month, or 0.9% if autos were excluded.

The report countered weeks of official statistics indicating the U.S. economy was sluggish, which nurtured speculation that U.S. interest rates might move lower.