Investing.com - The dollar remained broadly higher against a basket of other major currencies on Friday, trading near four-and-a-half year highs after the release of better-than-expected U.S.consumer sentiment and retail sales data.
The dollar strengthened broadly after the University of Michigan said, in a preliminary report, that its consumer sentiment index rose to a more than seven-year high of 89.4 this month from 86.9 in October. Analysts had expected the index to rise to 87.5 in November.
The report came after official data showed that U.S. retail sales rose 0.3% last month, exceeding expectations for a 0.2% gain, after a 0.3% fall in September.
Core retail sales, which exclude automobiles, increased by 0.3% in October, compared to expectations for a 0.2% slip the previous month.
The US dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was up 0.09% to 87.90, close to a four-and-a-half year high of 88.36 hit earlier in the day.
EUR/USD was steady at 1.2477 after data showed that inflation in the euro zone was flat in October, in line with market expectations, after a 0.4% rise in September.
The bloc's annual rate of inflation remained unchanged at 0.4% last month.
Core CPI in the euro zone, which excludes food, energy, alcohol and tobacco, ticked down to an annual rate of 0.7% last month from 0.8% in September.
The data fuelled further concerns over persistently low levels of inflation in the euro area. The European Central Bank targets an inflation rate of close to, but just below 2%.
Meanwhile, a separate report showed that the euro zone's gross domestic product rose 0.2% in the third quarter, more than the expected 0.1% uptick. The bloc's economy expanded at an annual rate of 0.8% in the last quarter, compared to expectations for 0.7% growth.
Earlier Friday, a preliminary report showed that Germany's GDP rose 0.1% in the last quarter, in line with expectations, after a revised 0.1% contraction in the three months to June.
France's economy grew 0.3% in the third quarter, exceeding expectations for growth of 0.1%, after a contraction of 0.1% in the previous quarter.
The dollar hit fresh seven-year highs of 116.82 against the yen, with USD/JPY last up 0.65% at 116.53.
The yen came under broad selling pressure this week amid mounting speculation that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe could call a snap election in December.
Elsewhere, GBP/USD dropped 0.46% to 1.5642, while USD/CHF held steady at 0.9630.
The pound came under pressure after the Office for National Statistics said that U.K. construction output rose 1.8% in September, below expectations for an increase of 3.7%. Construction activity for August was revised to a 3.0% decline from a previously estimated 3.9% drop.
The Australian, New Zealand and Canadian dollars turned higher, with AUD/USD adding 0.09% to 0.8725 and with NZD/USD up 0.11% at 0.7890, while USD/CAD retreated 0.39% to trade at 1.1326.
Statistics Canada earlier reported that manufacturing sales rose by 2.1% in September, beating expectations for an increase of 1.3%. August's figure was revised to a 3.5% decline from a previously estimated 3.3% drop.