The dollar posted moderate gains against most major currencies Wednesday on a government report showing improvement last month in the important U.S. retail sector.

That news triggered an early surge against the Japanese yen, German mark and other currencies. But the greenback gave up much of those gains on profit-taking as it approached recent highs.

By 4 p.m. in New York, the dollar was quoted at 106.35 Japanese yen, up from 106.17 yen late Tuesday, and 1.4737 German marks, up from 1.4730.

Exchange Currency in Dollars Dollar in foreign currency Canada .7353 1.3600 France .1981 5.0475 Germany .6786 1.4737 Great Britain 1.5393 .6496 Italy .000644 1554.00 Japan .009403 106.35 Mexico .133714 7.5350