Investing.com - The dollar was steady against the other major currencies on Friday, as investors remained cautious ahead of the highly-anticipated nonfarm payrolls report due later in the trading session.
EUR/USD was steady at 1.0921.
Markets were jittery ahead of the U.S. nonfarm payrolls report due later Friday, which could reinforce expectations for higher interest rates by the Federal Reserve.
The dollar had found support after data on Thursday showed that the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the U.S. in the week ending August 1 rose by 3,000 to 270,000 from the previous week’s total of 267,000.
Analysts had expected initial jobless claims to rise by 6,000 to 273,000 last week.
The dollar was little changed against the pound, with GBP/USD at 1.5525.
Sterling showed little reaction to report by the Office for National Statistics on Friday showing that the U.K. trade deficit widened to £9.18 billion in June from £8.42 billion in May, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated deficit of £8.00 billion.
Analysts had expected the trade deficit to widen to £9.30 billion in June.
Elsewhere, the dollar was steady against the yen, with USD/JPY at 124.73 and higher against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF adding 0.24% to 0.9832.
In a widely expected move, the Bank of Japan said on Friday that it will keep increasing the monetary base at an annual pace of ¥80 trillion.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars were stronger, with AUD/USD gaining 0.43% to 0.7376, while NZD/USD edging up 0.14% to 0.6561.
Earlier Friday, the Reserve Bank of Australia said the economy could grow an additional 0.5% to 1% during two years if the local dollar falls another 10% from its present level.
Separately, data showed that Australia's home loans rose 4.4% in June, disappointing expectations for an increase of 5.0%. Home loans declined 7.3% in May, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated 6.1% drop.
Meanwhile, USD/CAD held steady at 1.3118.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was little changed at 97.93.