Dollar Rises Slightly Against Major Units; Gold Closes Higher --- A Wall Street Journal News Roundup
The U.S. dollar firmed slightly against most major foreign currencies yesterday in trading that was sharply curtailed by the closing of U.S. markets for the Fourth of July holiday.</br></br>Trading in Europe, Canada and the Far East was trendless, with foreign-exchange traders attributing the dollar's slight gains to a feeling that its decline in the U.S. on Wednesday was slightly overdone.</br></br>In Frankfurt, the dollar rose to more than 3.04 West German marks in early trading, but eased after the West German central bank's council met and took no action on interest rates. Some observers had expected the council to ease one or another of the central bank's key interest rates after Karl Otto Poehl, president of the bank, had said earlier this week there was "downside maneuvering room" for West German interest rates.</br></br>Most West German interest rates now are only slightly lower than U.S. interest rates, which has lessened the attractiveness of dollar-denominated investments.</br></br>In late European trading yesterday, the dollar stood at 3.0355 marks, slightly above the late New York quote of 3.0320 marks on Wednesday. The British pound, benefiting from interest rates that are higher than those in the U.S., was the only major currency to strengthen against the dollar, firming to $1.3150 in London yesterday from $1.3145 in New York on Wednesday.