H.10(512) March 19, 1999 FOREIGN EXCHANGE RATES FOR THE WEEK ENDING MARCH 19, 1999 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 Mar. 15 Mar. 16 Mar. 17 Mar. 18 Mar. 19 *AUSTRALIA DOLLAR 0.6315 0.6260 0.6273 0.6301 0.6304 BRAZIL REAL 1.8800 1.8600 1.8900 1.8700 1.8550 CANADA DOLLAR 1.5286 1.5285 1.5222 1.5186 1.5158 CHINA, P.R. YUAN 8.2789 8.2789 8.2788 8.2788 8.2793 DENMARK KRONE 6.8045 6.8080 6.7425 6.7595 6.7964 *EMU MEMBERS EURO 1.0930 1.0915 1.1015 1.0990 1.0923 GREECE DRACHMA 294.20 294.25 291.20 292.60 294.15 HONG KONG DOLLAR 7.7500 7.7500 7.7502 7.7505 7.7502 INDIA RUPEE 42.50 42.50 42.50 42.50 42.50 JAPAN YEN 117.70 117.74 118.15 117.53 117.05 MALAYSIA RINGGIT 3.8000 3.8000 3.8000 3.8000 3.8000 MEXICO PESO 9.690 9.680 9.683 9.640 9.675 *NEW ZEALAND DOLLAR 0.5825 0.5291 0.5270 0.5320 0.5307 NORWAY KRONE 7.8420 7.8260 7.7390 7.6980 7.7169 SINGAPORE DOLLAR 1.7178 1.7222 1.7240 1.7238 1.7235 SOUTH AFRICA RAND 6.2150 6.2570 6.2320 6.2600 6.1900 SOUTH KOREA WON 1232.00 1230.00 1228.00 1226.00 1220.00 SRI LANKA RUPEE 69.550 69.650 69.350 69.550 69.420 SWEDEN KRONA 8.1675 8.2100 8.1500 8.1100 8.1747 SWITZERLAND FRANC 1.4660 1.4665 1.4483 1.4534 1.4620 TAIWAN DOLLAR 33.120 33.140 33.200 33.100 33.110 THAILAND BAHT 37.380 37.280 37.300 37.445 37.470 *UNITED KINGDOM POUND 1.6223 1.6240 1.6302 1.6290 1.6303 VENEZUELA BOLIVAR 579.50 578.85 580.25 580.75 580.75 MEMO: UNITED STATES DOLLAR 1)BROAD JAN97=100 117.45 117.46 117.29 117.14 117.13 2)MAJOR CURRENCY MAR73=100 95.41 95.47 95.11 94.97 95.01 3)OITP JAN97=100 130.62 130.53 130.77 130.63 130.54 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. 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. As of the January 11, 1999 release, the euro is reported in place of the individual euro-area currencies. These currency rates can be derived from the euro rate by using the fixed conversion rates (in currencies per euro) given below: 1 EUR = 40.3399 BELGIAN FRANCS = 1.95583 GERMAN MARKS = 166.386 SPANISH PESETAS = 6.55957 FRENCH FRANCS = .787564 IRISH POUNDS = 1936.27 ITALIAN LIRE = 40.3399 LUXEMBOURG FRANCS = 2.20371 DUTCH GUILDERS = 13.7603 AUSTRIAN SCHILLINGS = 200.482 PORTUGUESE ESCUDOS = 5.94573 FINNISH MARKKAS