Concerns that the leading international central banks would step in to cap the surging dollar stalked the currency markets yesterday.

And while the US currency initially showed some signs of faltering it soon recovered to hold its own against the major currencies. Sterling also remained strong throughout the day.

In Dublin, the pound was unchanged against sterling closing at 97p, and remained at DM2.66 against the deutschmark. The pound was also unchanged against the dollar at $1.58.

The difference between the pound, the strongest member of the ERM band, and the weakest, the French franc, narrowed only slightly to 11.3 per cent from 11.6 per cent the previous day.