1 The dollar finished softer yesterday, tilted lower by continued concern about the stock market.
2 'We're trading with a very wary eye on Wall Street,' said Trevor Woodland, chief corporate trader at Harris Trust & Savings Bank in New York. 'No one is willing to place a firm bet that the stock market won't take another tumultuous ride.'
3 News of the major earthquake in California Tuesday triggered a round of dollar sales in early Asian trade, but most foreign-exchange dealers said they expect the impact of the quake on financial markets to be short-lived.
4 Despite the dollar's lackluster performance, some foreign-exchange traders maintain that the U.S. unit remains relatively well bid.
5 Harris Trust's Mr. Woodland noted that the unit continues to show resilience in the face of a barrage of 'headline negatives' in recent weeks, including rate increases in Europe and Japan, aggressive central bank intervention, a 190-point plunge in New York stock prices, an unexpectedly poor U.S. trade report and action by the Federal Reserve to nudge U.S. rates lower.
6 While Mr. Woodland doesn't predict a significant climb for the U.S. unit in light of recent moves in interest rates around the world, he noted that 'its downside potential is surprisingly and -- for dollar bulls -- 'impressively' limited.
7 In late New York trading yesterday, the dollar was quoted at 1.8485 marks, down from 1.8667 marks late Tuesday, and at 141.45 yen, down from 142.75 yen late Tuesday.
8 Sterling was quoted at $1.5920, up from $1.5753 late Tuesday.
9 In Tokyo Thursday, the U.S. currency opened for trading at 140.97 yen, down from Wednesday's Tokyo close of 142.10 yen.
10 Since Friday's dive in stock market prices, the Fed has injected reserves into the banking system in an effort to calm the markets and avert a repeat of 1987's stock market debacle.
11 Some analysts note that after last week's stock market tailspin and Tuesday's California earthquake, it's hard to gauge where the central bank wants the key federal funds rate.
12 They say that the earthquake, by preventing many banks from operating at full capacity, has given the Fed an additional reason to keep liquidity at a high level.
13 The Fed did, in fact, execute $1.5 billion of liquidity-enhancing customer repurchase agreements, the third set of repurchase orders in three days.
14 Analysts said the additional liquidity should tend to reduce the federal funds rate.
15 For now, traders say the foreign exchange market is scrutinizing both federal funds and events on Wall Street.
16 They note that the dollar remains extremely vulnerable to the slightest bad news from the stock exchange.
17 Indeed, the U.S. unit edged lower as the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped about 13 points in early trading.
18 A slight recovery in the stock market gave currency traders confidence to push the dollar higher before the unit dropped back by day's end.
19 Some dealers noted that nervousness over the recent sharp dive in stock prices could intensify following suggestions by Bank of Japan Governor Satoshi Sumita that appeared to advise Japanese investors to be very careful in investing in U.S. leveraged buy-outs.
20 Dealers suggest that the only positive news on the horizon that could detract attention from equities transactions is September's U.S. consumer price data.
21 The figures, due for release Friday, are expected to show an uptick in inflation to 4.8% from 4.7% in August.
22 If the figures show a hefty rise in inflation, they could militate against easing by the Fed.
23 On the Commodity Exchange in New York, gold for current delivery rose $1.30 to $368.70 an ounce in moderate trading.
24 Estimated volume was three million ounces.
25 In early trading in Hong Kong Thursday, gold was at $368.15 an ounce.

The dollar finished softer yesterday , tilted lower by continued concern about the stock market .
concern about the stock market
Why is there concern about the stock market?