Investing.com - The dollar edged lower against the other major currencies on Friday, as investors awaited the highly-anticipated report on U.S. nonfarm payrolls due later in the day, briefly putting aside their concerns over the global ramifications of the Brexit vote.
GBP/USD rose 0.33% to 1.2948, still hovering close to Wednesday’s 31-year lows of 1.2797.
Market participants were eyeing the U.S. nonfarm payrolls report due later Friday, for further confirmation of the strength of the job market after upbeat data was released on Thursday.
The U.S. Department of Labor said on Thursday that the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending July 2 decreased by 16,000 to 254,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 270,000. Analysts had expected jobless claims to rise by 2,000.
In addition, U.S. Payroll processing firm ADP said non-farm private employment rose 172,000 last month, above forecasts for an increase of 159,000.
The greenback’s gains were capped however after the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s June policy meeting released on Wednesday showed that policymakers agreed that it was “prudent to wait” for additional data before considering another rate hike.
In the U.K., investors shrugged off a report by the Office for National Statistics on Friday showing that the country's goods trade deficit widened to £9.88 billion from £9.41 billion in April, whose figure was revised from an initial deficit of £10.53 billion.
Economists had expected the goods trade deficit to come in at £10.65 billion in May.
But the pound still remained under heavy pressure, as Britain’s shock decision to leave the European Union continued to fuel uncertainty over the consequences of the U.K. vote on the country’s economy.
EUR/USD held steady at 1.1069, while EUR/GBP slid 0.23% to trade at 0.8548, off Wednesday’s 35-month high of 0.8628.
USD/JPY was little changed at 100.73, while USD/CHF added 0.19% to 0.9798.
Market participants were still speculating whether or not the Bank of Japan will soon introduce fresh easing measures to boost the economy.
BoJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said on Thursday that the central bank was ready to expand monetary stimulus further if needed to achieve its 2% inflation target and affirmed his confidence over Japan's recovery prospects, making no mention of the current Brexit turmoil.
Earlier Friday, official data showed that Japan’s adjusted current account surplus narrowed to ¥1.41 trillion in May from ¥1.63 trillion the previous month. Analysts had expected the current account surplus to narrow to ¥1.52 trillion in May.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars were stronger, with AUD/USD up 0.32% at 0.7508 and with NZD/USD gaining 0.33% to 0.7253.
Elsewhere, USD/CAD eased up 0.09% to trade at 1.3013.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.08% at 96.26.