U.S. dollar steady: bullion firm

Press, 10 October 1984, Page 30

U.S. dollar steady: bullion firm

NZPA-AP New York

The dollar was mixed against major world currencies on Monday with trading extremely light because of holiday observances in the United States and Canada.

Gold prices drifted in a narrow range in lacklustre trading. Republic National Bank in New York said gold bullion was bid at $342.25 an ounce when it closed early at 3:15 p.m. (7.15 a.m. Tuesday, N.Z. time), a gain of 75c from the late bid on Friday. The trading pace in currency and bullion marts was subdued as major American banks were closed for the observance of Columbus Day and as Canadian markets were closed for Thanksgiving. Mr Gary Dorsch, a foreign currency analyst at Oppenheimer Rouse Futures Inc., Chicago, said the dollar had been supported by moderation in inflation in the United States and expectations that inflation would remain low. He said the latest inflation development to help the dollar was a report on

Monday by the Saudi Arabian newspaper, “AlSharq Al-Awsat,” saying that Ministers of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries are expected to freeze the cartel’s prices “through the end” of 1985.

But Mr Dorsch said traders’ assessments that the former Vice-President, Mr Walter Mondale, scored strongly in his debate on Sunday night with President Reagan worked against the dollar on Monday. “Mr Reagan’s not being able to deliver a knock-out blow took the dollar lower,” Mr Dorsch said.

A Treasury Department official said the dollar might lose ground to other currencies as economies improved abroad, but that it would not collapse. “Those crisis-mongers who warn of an imminent collapse simply haven’t done their homework,” Mr R.T. McNamara, deputy secretary of the Treasury, said in remarks prepared for a New Orleans meeting of the Financial Executives Institute.

By the end of the trading

day in the United States, the dollar stood at 246.75 Japanese yen, unchanged from the late rate on Friday. The British pound was quoted at $1.2395, against $1.2385 late on Friday. Other dollar rates in the United States late on Monday, compared with late rates in New York on Friday, included: 3.04825 West German marks, down from 3.0510; 2.51125 Swiss francs, down from 2.5170; 9.3775 French francs, up from 9.3500; and $1.31875 Canadian, up from 1.31815.

On the New York Commodity Exchange, gold bullion for current delivery rose $1 to close at $342.40 an ounce.