Dollar Sinks Toward 117 Yen

The dollar slid to another four-month low against the yen Wednesday and fell in most other dealings after benign inflation data raised doubts that the Federal Reserve will lift interest rates next week.

Senior Bundesbank official Klaus-Dieter Kuehbacher also hurt the dollar in comments that suggested Germany might not qualify for participation in the euro single currency in 1999, which strengthened the mark. Any news that suggests the euro could be delayed tends to benefit the German currency.

But traders said the primary theme in foreign-exchange dealings was the dollar’s weakness against the yen on a surprising 0.6 percent drop in April wholesale prices reported by the Labor Department.

Currency in Dollar in Exchange Dollars foreign currency

Canada .7200 1.3889 France .1753 5.7055 Germany .5902 1.6944 Great Britain 1.6466 .6073 Italy .000599 1669.00 Japan .008532 118.50 Mexico .126807 7.8860