Investing.com - The dollar was higher against other major currencies on Friday, as recent upbeat U.S. data continued to support the greenback and investors eyed a highly-anticipated U.S. employment report due later in the day.
EUR/USD slipped 0.24% to a two-month low of 1.1122.
The dollar was boosted after data on Thursday showed that U.S. initial jobless claims decreased by 5,000 to 249,000 in the week ending October 1. Analysts had expected jobless claims to rise by 3,000 to 257,000 last week.
Market participants were awaiting the U.S. nonfarm payrolls report due later in the day for further indications on the strength of the job market, as the Federal Reserve has indicated that future interest rate decisions will be data-dependent.
GBP/USD tumbled 1.23% to trade at a fresh 31-year low of 1.2461.
Market participants were also eyeing upcoming data on U.K. manufacturing production, as concerns over a potential ‘hard Brexit’ continued to weigh heavily on sterling.
The pound has been under broad selling pressure since U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May said on Sunday that she would trigger the process of leaving the European Union by the end of March.
USD/JPY was little changed at 103.88, just off the previous session’s one-month peak of 104.16.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.31% at 96.96, the highest since July 27.