Foreign exchanges keep their cool

STOCK market jitters, a Group of Seven finance ministers' meeting and parliamentary elections in France failed to send ripples through foreign exchange markets today. The weekend's G7 meeting did not include a discussion on exchange rates, despite concerns about the dollar's recent weakness and the Japanese yen's rally.

In France, a landslide victory for President Jacques Chirac's centre-right allies was seen as having little impact on the euro's prospects. It was slightly weaker at 94.24 US cents, or 63.85p against sterling, today. Against the dollar, sterling was steady at 1.4760.

Other markets were also quiet. Brent crude oil futures were 12 cents higher at $25.15 a barrel. Gold was fixed at $317.95 an ounce, down $4.15 from the previous fix.