G.5(405)                                                      November 30, 1998



 FOREIGN EXCHANGE RATES

 THE TABLE BELOW SHOWS THE AVERAGE RATES OF EXCHANGE IN NOVEMBER 1998 TOGETHER
 WITH COMPARABLE FIGURES FOR OTHER MONTHS. AVERAGES ARE BASED ON DAILY NOON BUYING
 RATES FOR CABLE TRANSFERS IN NEW YORK CITY CERTIFIED FOR CUSTOMS PURPOSES BY
 THE FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF NEW YORK.


                                      (RATES IN CURRENCY UNITS PER DOLLAR)


                   MONETARY       1998         1998         1998         1997
   COUNTRY           UNIT       November      October     September    November

 *AUSTRALIA        DOLLAR          0.6349       0.6179       0.5889       0.6953
  AUSTRIA          SCHILLING      11.840       11.524       11.955       12.181
  BELGIUM          FRANC          34.71        33.81        35.05        35.74
  BRAZIL           REAL            1.1932       1.1889       1.1805       1.1072
  CANADA           DOLLAR          1.5404       1.5452       1.5218       1.4128
  CHINA,P.R.       YUAN            8.2778       8.2778       8.3055       8.3109
  DENMARK          KRONE           6.3960       6.2294       6.4717       6.5937
 *EURO COMMUNITY   ECU             1.1681       1.2019       1.1575       1.1419
  FINLAND          MARKKA          5.1163       4.9845       5.1734       5.2217
  FRANCE           FRANC           5.6422       5.4925       5.6969       5.8001
  GERMANY          D. MARK         1.6827       1.6381       1.6990       1.7323
  GREECE           DRACHMA       282.64       281.64       292.47       271.87
  HONG KONG        DOLLAR          7.7432       7.7483       7.7480       7.7314
  INDIA            RUPEE          42.43        42.39        42.58        37.29
 *IRELAND          POUND           1.4777       1.5221       1.4724       1.5030
  ITALY            LIRA         1664.91      1620.96      1678.92      1697.08
  JAPAN            YEN           120.29       121.05       134.48       125.38
  MALAYSIA         RINGGIT         3.8000       3.8000       3.8050       3.3791
  MEXICO           PESO            9.968       10.159       10.219        8.272
  NETHERLANDS      GUILDER         1.8969       1.8479       1.9169       1.9524
 *NEW ZEALAND      DOLLAR          0.5340       0.5213       0.5044       0.6242
  NORWAY           KRONE           7.4562       7.4294       7.5564       7.0588
  PORTUGAL         ESCUDO        172.52       168.01       174.19       176.84
  SINGAPORE        DOLLAR          1.6378       1.6378       1.7226       1.5820
  SOUTH AFRICA     RAND            5.6511       5.7991       6.0966       4.8394
  SOUTH KOREA      WON          1294.01      1344.14      1375.54      1035.22
  SPAIN            PESETA        143.05       139.23       144.33       146.30
  SRI LANKA        RUPEE          67.578       66.345       66.260       60.132
  SWEDEN           KRONA           8.0140       7.8395       7.8816       7.5589
  SWITZERLAND      FRANC           1.3852       1.3373       1.4000       1.4069
  TAIWAN           DOLLAR         32.603       33.121       34.646       31.794
  THAILAND         BAHT           36.527       38.118       40.402       39.092
 *UNITED KINGDOM   POUND           1.6611       1.6944       1.6823       1.6889
  VENEZUELA        BOLIVAR       569.66       570.68       583.85       500.17

  MEMO:
  UNITED STATES    DOLLAR
1)BROAD            JAN97=100     115.34       115.46       118.85       108.23
2)MAJOR CURRENCY   MAR73=100      94.23        93.46        96.99        93.07
3)OITP             JAN97=100     127.31       129.02       131.38       111.62
4)G-10             MAR73=100      95.46        93.69        97.17        96.37

 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.

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 please call publication services at Federal Reserve Board at (202) 452-3244.