Dollar Recovers Against Yen, Mark

The dollar recovered a bit Friday as traders who made money on the Japanese yen and German mark during the prior session sold those currencies and purchased greenbacks.

Trading was dominated by technical factors and cross-currency trades, particularly transactions between the Swiss franc and the yen. Analysts said many investors appeared most comfortable going into the weekend holding dollars.

In late New York trading, the dollar settled at 123.28 yen, up from 122.55 yen on Thursday. The dollar cost 1.6887 marks, up from 1.6840.

The dollar lost ground against the British pound. Against other currencies the dollar was mixed, weakening against the Swiss franc but gaining on the French franc and the Italian lira.