Dollar Mixed; Gold Prices Increase
NEW YORK — The dollar was mixed Friday against key currencies in nervous but quiet trading. Gold prices rose. Bullion was quoted at $344.50 an ounce at Republic National Bank at 4 p.m EST, up $5.50 from Thursday’s late bid.
Currency dealers said the market quieted considerably at the end of a week of mainly hectic dealing dominated by uncertainty about the intentions toward the dollar of the big five Western industrialized nations. Finance ministers and central bank officials of the so-called Group of Five met this week in Washington.
Dealers said a predicted cut in the U.S. discount rate--the interest rate the Federal Reserve Bank charges on loans to commercial banks--also hurt the dollar.
“There is still an amount of speculation on a discount cut in the United States.” said William Orsini, senior commercial trader at Bank of Montreal’s New York office.
Supporting the dollar was unease about increasingly hostile relations between the United States and Libya, Orsini said.
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