$US slips to new low

Press, 22 June 1978, Page 7

$US slips to new low

N>PA-Reuter Tokyo The ailing United States dollar fell below the 210 yen barrier in Tokyo yesterday for the first time since World War II and briefly touched a rate of 208.65. The dollar, undermined by its overnight weakness in the United States and Europe, opened at 210.70 yen;; nearly one yen down on Tuesday s close in Tokyo. The Japanese Prime Minister (Mr Takeo Fukuda) said the decision by the Organisation of Petroleum Export- ; ing Countries to continue its oil-price freeze, at least until' the end of this year, was

51 partly responsible for the! ilatest yen surge. |i si He told a press conference!: 11 that this was because Japan.!; 1 1 which bought about SUS2O; ■ :! billion worth of oil a year.ji mainly from the Middle 1 East, would benefit morel I , than any other country from ■ t the freeze. i • The Bank of Japan, which i ;jhad been expected by somel i traders to intervene heavily’! ! to stop the dollar’s plunge ■ below the 210-yen level, was): I believed to have bought only 1 ■ between SU.S4O million and t • SUSSO million on the Tokyo:' • I foreign exchange market: 1 liyesterday, dealers said. T Japan’s Chief Cabinet Sec- t

iretary (Mr Shintaro Abe)i I said the dollar fell below the) |2lO level partly because the ■yen had been singled out by I I some foreign banks for spec-; julative dollar selling. He also told a press con-i Iference that Cabinet Econ-| omic Ministers, meeting to-1 morrow, would adopt' new measures to deal, with) i the latest yen appreciation. He did not elaborate. Japanese banking sources! said yesterday that the dol-. lar might fall soon to! around the 200 yen level.) The United States currency) has already depreciated by)’ about 13 per cent against) the yen in Tokyo this year. I