H.10(512) December 11, 1998 FOREIGN EXCHANGE RATES FOR THE WEEK ENDING DECEMBER 11, 1998 The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System is advised that the Federal Reserve Bank of New York has certified for customs purposes the following noon buying rates in New York City for cable transfers payable in foreign currencies: (RATES IN CURRENCY UNITS PER DOLLAR) MONETARY COUNTRY UNIT Dec. 7 Dec. 8 Dec. 9 Dec. 10 Dec. 11 *AUSTRALIA DOLLAR 0.6204 0.6155 0.6165 0.6195 0.6208 AUSTRIA SCHILLING 11.806 11.760 11.744 11.648 11.604 BELGIUM FRANC 34.61 34.49 34.43 34.14 34.05 BRAZIL REAL 1.2030 1.2028 1.2033 1.2030 1.2043 CANADA DOLLAR 1.5374 1.5437 1.5435 1.5414 1.5422 CHINA,P.R. YUAN 8.2775 8.2775 8.2775 8.2774 8.2774 DENMARK KRONE 6.3825 6.3560 6.3470 6.3085 6.2845 *EURO COMMUNITY ECU 1.1700 1.1740 1.1750 1.1846 1.1880 FINLAND MARKKA 5.1030 5.0815 5.0750 5.0430 5.0200 FRANCE FRANC 5.6245 5.6045 5.5996 5.5530 5.5345 GERMANY D. MARK 1.6773 1.6718 1.6695 1.6550 1.6491 GREECE DRACHMA 281.87 280.60 279.70 278.00 276.60 HONG KONG DOLLAR 7.7483 7.7485 7.7480 7.7485 7.7475 INDIA RUPEE 42.59 42.62 42.60 42.61 42.61 *IRELAND POUND 1.4805 1.4860 1.4876 1.5000 1.5055 ITALY LIRA 1660.95 1655.10 1653.70 1640.00 1633.85 JAPAN YEN 119.63 119.55 118.08 117.07 116.78 MALAYSIA RINGGIT 3.8000 3.8000 3.8000 3.8000 3.8000 MEXICO PESO 10.010 9.942 9.954 9.950 9.938 NETHERLANDS GUILDER 1.8915 1.8840 1.8815 1.8675 1.8597 *NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR 0.5214 0.5185 0.5155 0.5214 0.5225 NORWAY KRONE 7.4870 7.5260 7.5560 7.5600 7.6650 PORTUGAL ESCUDO 172.05 171.40 171.20 169.84 169.21 SINGAPORE DOLLAR 1.6585 1.6575 1.6490 1.6470 1.6500 SOUTH AFRICA RAND 5.9050 6.0200 5.9800 5.9670 5.9750 SOUTH KOREA WON 1210.00 1217.00 1217.00 1208.00 1210.00 SPAIN PESETA 142.800 142.230 142.050 140.950 140.420 SRI LANKA RUPEE 68.090 67.750 67.830 68.000 68.010 SWEDEN KRONA 8.1504 8.1040 8.0350 8.0465 8.0220 SWITZERLAND FRANC 1.3756 1.3659 1.3603 1.3396 1.3295 TAIWAN DOLLAR 32.400 32.400 32.350 32.300 32.310 THAILAND BAHT 35.960 35.950 35.810 35.780 35.850 *UNITED KINGDOM POUND 1.6530 1.6540 1.6580 1.6670 1.6835 VENEZUELA BOLIVAR 575.75 572.50 564.75 553.25 559.01 MEMO: UNITED STATES DOLLAR 1)BROAD JAN97=100 115.14 115.03 114.68 114.28 114.15 2)MAJOR CURRENCY MAR73=100 94.07 94.05 93.67 93.11 92.87 3)OITP JAN97=100 127.09 126.83 126.62 126.58 126.70 4)G-10 MAR73=100 95.31 95.09 94.79 94.10 93.74 This release is available online at http://www.federalreserve.gov/release/. For more information on exchange rate indexes for the U.S. dollar, see "New Summary Measures of the Foreign Exchange Value of the Dollar," Federal Reserve Bulletin, vol. 84 (October 1998), pp. 811-18 (http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/bulletin/) and "Index of the Weighted-Average Exchange Value of the U.S. Dollar: Revision," Federal Reserve Bulletin, vol. 64 (August 1978), p. 700. Weights for broad index can be found at http://www.federalreserve.gov/; weights for the major currencies index and the other important trading partners (OITP) index are derived from the broad index weights. * Value is U.S. dollars. 1) A weighted average of the foreign exchange value of the U.S. dollar against the currencies of a broad group of major U.S. trading partners. 2) A weighted average of the foreign exchange value of the U.S. dollar against a subset of the broad index currencies that circulate widely outside the country of issue. 3) A weighted average of the foreign exchange value of the U.S. dollar against a subset of the broad index currencies that do not circulate widely outside the country of issue. 4) A weighted average of the foreign exchange value of the U.S. dollar against the currencies of the other G-10 countries. We will discontinue publication of this series after December 1998. For information about your subscription to this release or about receiving it in document form, please call publication services at Federal Reserve Board at (202) 452-3244.