European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 20, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 14 a the stars and stripes. Sunday january 20, 1991businessynews Dollar defies experts with wartime decline if London economist Tim Fox were a betting Man he would have wagered Early last week that the . Dollar would hit 1.60 Marks the minute shooting started in the Middle East. Instead the Dollar which was trading in the neighbourhood of 1.54 Marks before War sunk below 1.51 Marks within the first 24 hours of Battle. The Dollar also lost ground against other european currencies including the French franc British Pound italian lira and belgian franc. On Friday the Dollar continued to languish. By late afternoon the Dollar was trading at 1.5125 Deutsche Marks on the world Market. The military Exchange rate in Germany this weekend was set at. 1.48 Marks a loss of two pfennig on the week Fox and other currency traders said the Dollar declined because the persian Gulf conflict was going better than expected. A we started getting reports of How Well things were going and people started trading on peace a said Fox an economist for Midland Montagu Bank in London. Nevertheless those Early glowing reports of . Bombing successes May mask a harsher reality. An eventual ground War to liberate Kuwait stands to be bloodier than what has come thus far said Fox and Ian Amstad an economist with the Chase investment Bank in London. A the Dollar May creep Back up when the War gets taken to the round a Fox said. A it will be a bit Arder to ascertain who a winning a a it could be a Long Campaign a added Amstad who termed the currency markets treatment of the Dollar Dollar watch Randy Mcclain f so far a bit out of line. A a it a reasonably Clear that the War is no contest in the air. But iraqi ground forces could be More trouble and they re very entrenched a he said. A i done to Sec Iraq giving  neither Fox nor Amstad is suggesting that the .-led coalition against Iraq will fail to achieve Victory but they done to Rule out the possibility of setbacks along the Way. The scenario that appears to worry currency traders the most is the possibility of israelis entering the War against Iraq and thereby splintering the .-led Arab coalition now confronting iraqi Leader Saddam Hussein. However that possibility faded Amstad said because of the ineffectiveness of iraqis scud missile attacks against Tel Aviv and Haifa in Israel. Those attacks occurred Early Friday but did not cause major damage. A Israel also realizes there Are problems with them getting involved a Amstad added. The London analyst said he doubts future scud attacks will be any More successful than fridays. He also discounted iraqis ability to disrupt Middle East Oil supplies. Amstad said he expects the Dollar to Trade in a Range Between 1.50 and 1.55 Marks for the next few Day the High end of that scale will be reached if bad War news develops and the Low end of the scale is More Likely if the fighting continues to go Well. Economic fundamentals will weigh against the Dollar in the Long run though. Amstad predicts the Greenback will fall to 1.40 or 1.45 Marks after a Middle East peace is secured. Fox agrees. A while the War continues there will still be some remnants of support for the Dollar a he said. A the quicker the War is completely Over with the quicker that support  the stars add stripes. Merchant ships Start steering out of Gulf Manama Bahrain apr iraqis use of modified scud missiles has raised the risk of doing business along one of the worlds most important and deadliest Waterways. Commercial vessels have continued to operate in the Southern Waters of the persian Gulf while one of history a biggest naval armadas wages War with Iraq to the North. Some shipping executives said traffic was expected to begin dropping after Iraq fired a missile at the saudi City of Dhah ran along with missiles at Israel. �?o1 would not go into the Gulf now a said a shipping executive in Fuja Irah outside the Strait of Hormuz at the opening of the Gulf. He spoke on condition of anonymity. Lloyd a of London has urged merchant vessels to avoid the Gulf and insurance on shipping has skyrocketed because of the crisis. A a a. A. A a a a. .�.�����. A a a at the saudi port of dam Mam near Dhahran a port authority official said shipping had been off for three Days. But the official who also asked not to be identified attributed it to the vagaries of shipping schedules and not the War with Iraq. A you have Days when it is Down a he said. A a dam Mam is a major port for american military transport vessels. But an official with a shipping agent in dam Mam the arabian establishment for Trade and shipping said some ships destined for the port were instead loading cargo at Dubai to the South. A a a a Ltd a there Are no ships calling especially japanese ships a said manager Falah Abu Zaid. A they have instructions to  Commodore Ken Summers commander of Canadian forces in the Gulf told reporters thursday that the strike by Allied jets on targets in Iraq and occupied Kuwait had curtailed Iraq s ability to hit commercial shipping with missile or air attacks. But he noted that More than 20 mines some newly Laid have been found in the Northern Gulf. Continued shipping traffic has Given the volatile Gulf a facade of normalcy. But some executives say Trade has slowed. A everybody seems to be nervous about moving vessels around a said Peter Whitbread an official with the International Marine services Salvage firm at Dubai. American Oil tankers were still loading crude at the huge Ras Tanura Oil installation on the saudi coast North of Dhahran. A Quot atm cards can be used in european countries Frankfurt Germany a merchants National Bank Green machine cards can now be used to get Cash from a variety of automated Teller machines in Denmark England Wales France and the Netherlands Bank officials have announced. Community Bank cards can be used at credit Mutual Bank machines in France Midland Bank arms in England and Wales and Konstanten Bank machines in Denmark. They also work in the Netherlands at an Amro Nib Ramo Vanla Scot credit Lyonnaise and sons Banks. All the Banks listed above have recently joined the worldwide Cirrus automated Teller network merchants National Bank and hundreds of other financial institutions in the United states also belong to the network. Service members with atm cards from stateside Banks that belong to the Cirrus network can Access their american accounts at the machines mentioned above As Well. Cash withdrawals and balance inquiries Are possible. Customers will be charged a fee of $2.35 for each transaction