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Dollar holds higher vs mark

LONDON: The dollar held on to overnight gains against the mark in midsession European trade on Monday, helped by talk of an imminent cut in German interest rates and by a bout of mark/yen profit-taking, dealers said.

Pressure on mark/yen buoyed dollar/mark as dealers looked to the regular fortnightly Bundesbank council meeting on Thursday for clues to the direction of German rates.

The mark was also left battered by weekend comments from Bundesbank president Hans Tietmeyer.

Tietmeyer said he would welcome further normalisation of the mark exchange rate because it would benefit German exports.

The dollar was trading at 1.5103/08 marks at 1104 GMT against 1.5045/50 marks late on Friday. It rose to just shy of a 14-month high of 1.5130 marks in late Tokyo trade.

The mark slipped to 71.76/79 yen versus 72.21/24. This was seen as hindering the dollar's upside against the yen. The dollar was at 108.42/45 yen against 108.63/66.

The Bundesbank has said it would put off any further moves in interest rates until it saw this data.

"The Bundesbank has been quite forthright with markets," said Andrew Smith, chief economist at Credit Lyonnais Laing. "Rates in Germany are still coming down while rates in the United States are likely to rise.

The Bank of France left its key intervention rate unchanged at 3.70 percent. The French franc was trading at 3.3912/17 per mark versus 3.3960/65 late on Friday.-Reuter