Dollar mixed vs. rivals after strong German data, ECB comments

Investing.com - The U.S. dollar was mixed against the other major currencies on Friday, after the release of strong German business confidence data, while the European Central Bank said banks plan to pay back more than anticipated of its long term loans.

During European morning trade, the dollar was lower against the euro, with EUR/USD climbing 0.45% to 1.3438.

The euro pushed higher against the greenback after the Ifo Institute for Economic Research said that its index of German business confidence improved to 104.2 in January, from 102.4 the previous month, beating expectations for a rise to 103.0.

Separately, the ECB said that banks will repay EUR137.159 billion in three-year loans next week, opting to hand back the money early, signalling that a least parts of the financial system are returning to health.

The greenback was steady against the pound, with GBP/USD easing 0.05% to 1.5780.

The pound came under pressure after preliminary data showed that U.K. gross domestic product fell 0.3% in the fourth quarter, compared to expectations for a 0.1% decline, after a 0.9% rise in the previous quarter.

Elsewhere, the greenback was higher against the yen, with USD/JPY advancing 0.62% to trade at 90.89, bit lower against the Swiss franc with USD/CHF dropping 0.48% to 0.9242.

The yen remained under broad selling pressure after Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa reaffirmed on Friday the bank's commitment to maintain powerful monetary easing.

The greenback was steady to higher against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand counterparts, with USD/CAD adding 0.19% to 1.0040, AUD/USD easing 0.06% to 1.0445 and NZD/USD inching 0.02% higher to 0.8381.

The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.17% to 79.89.

Later in the day, the U.S. was to release government data on new homes sales.