NORWAY CENTRAL BANK SELLS CROWNS TO EASE PRESSURE Norway's central bank sold crowns in the open market in a bid to ease strong upward pressure on the currency, which threatens to rise above set levels in a basket of currencies, dealers said. The central bank declined comment, but dealers noted the bank had also intervened and sold small amounts of crowns on Friday. The bank is committed to defending the crown at certain levels in a basket of 14 trade-weighted currencies. "They've been in again this morning, selling piecemeal whenever they think necessary," a senior dealer at an Oslo bank, who declined to be identified, told Reuters. The crown's index is currently around 109.60 in the basket -- close to its upper limit of 109.50 which the central bank is committed to defending. A low index figure indicates a high value for the crown. The limit at the other end of the scale is set at 114.50. The crown has been bolstered by high Norwegian interest rates, currently around 16 pct in the money market, and better than expected economic indicators which showed a sharply reduced foreign trade deficit in May and inflation stabilising around the current annual rate of 10 pct.