Investing.com - The dollar remained higher against a basket of other major currencies on Friday, as investors remained cautious amid mounting concerns over the outlook for global economic growth, although the Federal Reserve's recent meeting minutes continued to weigh.
The US Dollar Index, which tracks the performance of the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, rose 0.29% to 85.91, not far from the four-year peak of 86.87 hit last Friday.
Market sentiment remained under pressure after the International Monetary Fund cut its global economic growth forecasts for the third time this year on Tuesday and warned that the recovery remains weak and uneven.
But the dollar's gains were expected to remain limited as the minutes of the Fed's September 16-17 policy meeting suggested that the bank is in no hurry to raise interest rates and raised concerns over the dollar's strength.
USD/JPY edged up 0.19% to trade at 108.03. Earlier Friday, the minutes of the Bank of Japan's September 3-4 policy meeting showed that some members voiced concerns over possible adverse effects of additional stimulus measures.
These concerns raised the prospect of the first policy split vote under BoJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda's mandate, even as the central bank head continues to emphasize his readiness to take fresh action to meet the BOJ's 2% inflation target, if needed.
On Tuesday, the BoJ left monetary policy unchanged at its policy meeting, but acknowledged that declining domestic demand as a result of a sales tax increase in April was leading to economic weakness.
EUR/USD declined 0.36% to 1.2646 following reports that Germany could cut its growth forecasts for 2014 and 2015 next week, fuelling concerns over a recession in Europe's largest economy.
The news followed data on Thursday showing that German exports fell in August by the most since January 2009, while a separate report released earlier in the week showed that German factory orders dropped by the most since 2009 in August.
The weak data added to expectations that the European Central Bank will implement fresh stimulus measures to help bolster growth.
The pound and the Swiss franc were also lower, with GBP/USD down 0.50% to trade at 1.6036 and USD/CHF up 0.26% to 0.9564.
In the U.K., the Office for National Statistics reported on Friday that the trade deficit narrowed to £9.10 billion in August from £10.41 billion in July, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated deficit of £10.19 billion.
Analysts had expected the trade deficit to narrow to £9.60 billion in August.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars were broadly weaker, with AUD/USD retreating 0.75% to 0.8717 and NZD/USD dropping 0.41% to trade at 0.7832. Meanwhile, USD/CAD pulled away from four-day highs to trade at 1.1194, up only 0.09% for the day.
Statistics Canada said that the number of employed people rose by 74,1000 in September, blowing past expectations for an increase of 20,000, after a 11,000 decline the previous month.
The report also showed that Canada's unemployment rate fell to 6.8% last month from 7.0% in August. Analysts had expected the unemployment rate to remain unchanged in September.