31.   A shrinking trade gap helps the dollar because it means less dollars must be sold to finance the excess of imports.

32.   A sell-off in U.S. securities often prompts foreigners to sell dollars for marks, yen or other currencies, traders said.

33.   A rate increase by the bank would have made German bonds more attractive to investors, prompting them to sell dollars to buy marks.

34.   Also weighing on the dollar was persistent concern the Bank of Japan may sell dollars for yen, traders said.

35.   Also weighing on the U.S. currency was persistent talk that European central banks were selling dollars for marks as part of normal reserve adjustments, traders said.

36.   Also, Japanese exporters begin purchasing forward contracts to sell dollars they expect to earn before the new fiscal year begins in April, Kaji said.

37.   But driven by their own logic, intuitions and investment positions, traders sold dollars against the yen, regardless of whether it seemed economically rational to Washington.

38.   But if the economy slows and stock prices continue to perform poorly, investors may withdraw their capital and sell the dollar.

39.   But investors who sold dollars to buy overseas stocks on their own markets in, say, January did much better.

40.   By mid-day, many banks and currency-exchange points were refusing to sell dollars or had closed for business altogether.