The dollar fell back against the Japanese yen Friday, in the absence of Federal Reserve support that had pumped up the U.S. currency a day earlier. The dollar also slipped against most other major currencies.
Gold prices rose. On the New York Commodity Exchange, gold for current delivery closed at $373.40 a troy ounce, up $2.10 from Thursday. At 4 p.m. EDT, Republic National Bank of New York quoted gold at $373.50, up $2.40.Currency traders said the markets were quiet on Friday, after a dramatic intervention by the Fed a day earlier that prevented the dollar from tumbling to a historic low of 100 yen. Traders who hadn't anticipated that kind of response from the U.S. central bank suffered big losses.
"The winners sat back and enjoyed the fruits of their victory. The losers brushed up on their resumes," said John Duffy, chief trader at Bank Austria in New York.
The dollar ended at 104.35 yen in New York trading, down from 105.95 on Thursday. Earlier, in Tokyo, the dollar ended at 104.45 yen, up 2.47 yen from Thursday's close of 101.98 yen.
Dealers said the market wea unsure whether Thursday's Fed action was intended merely to slow the dollar's fall against the yen, or whether it indicated a permanent changen in the U.S. policy supporting a strong yen to erode the trade deficit with Japan.