By KENNETH N. GILPIN

Published: September 23, 1986

The dollar pulled itself up and soared against the West German mark yesterday, just one day after European Community leaders were said to have agreed on a plan to bolster the American currency.

At one point during the day, the dollar had jumped more than 4 percent in value against the mark. It settled back in New York to end at 2.0290 marks. This was about 2 percent above Friday’s close, which was a five-year low for the dollar.

Gold prices continued to rise, hitting a three-and-a-half-year high in Europe. In New York gold was at $440 an ounce, up $6.50 from Friday.

Currency traders were unwilling to predict what the dollar might do next. They seemed ready to wait until international economic arguments, ranging from German interest rates to American budget deficits, end. I.M.F. Meeting Awaited

»There is no way in this kind of atmosphere that the market can do a whole lot,» said one foreign-exchange trader at a major commercial bank, »because the next statement turns everything around. We were headed south on Friday and north on Monday, and that has created enormous uncertainty in the market.»

Traders said some answers might come this week when finance ministers gather in Washington for the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

An uneasy note was injected over the weekend with reports that finance ministers and central bankers of European Community members had informally agreed that the dollar needed to be pushed higher in relation to their nations’ currencies.

The reports were not confirmed, but they suggested to currency traders that European central banks might begin to buy dollars aggressively. Such action would call into question the continued viability of the agreement reached one year ago at the Plaza Hotel by finance ministers of the Group of Five leading industrial nations to drive down the dollar.

»Auckland wouldn’t answer the phone and wouldn’t trade for the first hour,» said Mary Lynn McCaffrey, head of corporate foreign-exchange trading for Citibank in New York. »And last night it was not an orderly market in Australia and Tokyo.»

Emotions were more controlled as trading opened in Europe, and the mark recovered some of the ground lost against the dollar.

»Generally New York drives the market, but it sure didn’t do it today,» said Michael Snow, senior vice president at the Union Bank of Switzerland. »Today we sort of went into a passenger seat.»

In spite of the supposed plan to intervene in the market, foreign-exchange traders said central banks were not buyers of dollars yesterday.

To many participants, the reported agreement appeared to be the latest development in a war of words being waged across the Atlantic. Last Thursday Treasury Secretary James A. Baker 3d said that to spur economic growth, the dollar would have to fall further and foreign interest rates, particularly in West Germany, would have to come down.

The dollar’s gain in New York trading yesterday was a little under half what had been recorded in Sydney, Australia, where at one point it traded at 2.075 West German marks.

The dollar rose to 2.0300 marks in London from Friday’s 1.9855 marks.

Although the dollar rose strongly against the mark and the British pound, it was relatively unchanged against a number of other major currencies yesterday, including the Japanese yen. Around the world, the yen stayed in a very narrow range of 153.30 to 153.90 against the dollar. —- Strong Gains for Gold By The Associated Press Gold prices rose yesterday. In New York, the Republic National Bank quoted gold bullion at $440 an ounce at 4 P.M. up $6.50 from Friday.

Gold prices were supported by a surge in platinum prices, renewed tension in the Middle East and expectation the dollar might fall further.

On the New York Commodity Exchange, gold bullion for current delivery finished at $440.40 an ounce, up $6.50 from Friday.

In London, gold closed at a bid of $436 an ounce, up from Friday’s $430. In Zurich, gold rose to $437.50 an ounce from $429.50.

Earlier yesterday, in Hong Kong, gold rose $5.08, to $437.61 an ounce.