H.10(512) December 18, 1998 FOREIGN EXCHANGE RATES FOR THE WEEK ENDING DECEMBER 18, 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. 14 Dec. 15 Dec. 16 Dec. 17 Dec. 18 *AUSTRALIA DOLLAR 0.6204 0.6235 0.6187 0.6231 0.6211 AUSTRIA SCHILLING 11.620 11.661 11.720 11.723 11.724 BELGIUM FRANC 34.07 34.19 34.36 34.36 34.41 BRAZIL REAL 1.2050 1.2050 1.2050 1.2053 1.2065 CANADA DOLLAR 1.5405 1.5420 1.5390 1.5422 1.5448 CHINA,P.R. YUAN 8.2777 8.2778 8.2778 8.2777 8.2777 DENMARK KRONE 6.2840 6.3115 6.3360 6.3290 6.3375 *EURO COMMUNITY ECU 1.1895 1.1848 1.1793 1.1795 1.1789 FINLAND MARKKA 5.0215 5.0420 5.0710 5.0580 5.0660 FRANCE FRANC 5.5355 5.5605 5.5880 5.5860 5.5854 GERMANY D. MARK 1.6496 1.6591 1.6669 1.6662 1.6654 GREECE DRACHMA 276.60 278.00 279.95 279.57 279.68 HONG KONG DOLLAR 7.7485 7.7490 7.7480 7.7478 7.7458 INDIA RUPEE 42.60 42.60 42.60 42.62 42.60 *IRELAND POUND 1.5042 1.4972 1.4905 1.4905 1.4900 ITALY LIRA 1633.50 1641.70 1649.50 1649.75 1648.70 JAPAN YEN 115.08 116.73 115.68 116.33 115.67 MALAYSIA RINGGIT 3.7997 3.8100 3.8000 3.8100 3.8002 MEXICO PESO 9.944 9.953 9.885 9.800 9.773 NETHERLANDS GUILDER 1.8600 1.8685 1.8777 1.8775 1.8770 *NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR 0.5210 0.5222 0.5220 0.5248 0.5215 NORWAY KRONE 7.7670 7.8120 7.6635 7.6970 7.7255 PORTUGAL ESCUDO 169.17 170.00 170.80 170.81 170.79 SINGAPORE DOLLAR 1.6442 1.6500 1.6475 1.6485 1.6477 SOUTH AFRICA RAND 6.0180 6.0300 5.9900 5.8925 5.9300 SOUTH KOREA WON 1205.00 1213.00 1210.00 1211.00 1210.00 SPAIN PESETA 140.380 141.050 141.750 141.730 141.720 SRI LANKA RUPEE 68.100 67.750 68.180 68.300 68.250 SWEDEN KRONA 8.0370 8.0520 8.0410 8.1100 8.0340 SWITZERLAND FRANC 1.3338 1.3415 1.3441 1.3487 1.3482 TAIWAN DOLLAR 32.200 32.200 32.300 32.320 32.300 THAILAND BAHT 35.840 36.250 36.330 36.760 36.370 *UNITED KINGDOM POUND 1.6885 1.6853 1.6765 1.6750 1.6803 VENEZUELA BOLIVAR 561.55 562.00 562.50 562.85 563.00 MEMO: UNITED STATES DOLLAR 1)BROAD JAN97=100 113.86 114.38 114.25 114.38 114.20 2)MAJOR CURRENCY MAR73=100 92.49 93.00 92.92 93.12 93.00 3)OITP JAN97=100 126.64 127.04 126.86 126.83 126.59 4)G-10 MAR73=100 93.54 94.04 94.23 94.36 94.22 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.