Dollar Eases As Profit-Taking Blunts Surge
The U.S. dollar eased against most major foreign currencies yesterday as dealers took profits from Tuesday's dollar surge.</br></br>The decline was minimal, however, with the dollar continuing to trade at more than 2.9 West German marks. Most traders said they expected the dollar to resume its upward course before long.</br></br>Gold rose 40 cents, to $344.40 an ounce, in response to the weaker dollar.</br></br>The dollar also was hurt yesterday by several large West German commercial orders to sell dollars and purchase marks. The mark is at its lowest level against the dollar in 11 1/2 years. "The size of these orders was such that they had the effect of depressing the dollar," said Francoise Soares-Kemp, a vice president and chief corporate trader at Credit Lyonnais in New York. "They certainly were enough to put a damper on things."</br></br>Attached to the orders, however, she said, were instructions to buy dollars if the U.S. currency falls to 2.89 marks and to sell more dollars if the exchange rate rises to 2.92 marks. "That could effectively, but not necessarily, put a trading range on the dollar for the remainder of the week at these levels," she added. The dollar was quoted at 2.9043 marks in late New York trading yesterday.