Investing.com - The dollar held steady near one-week highs against the other major currencies on Thursday, as hopes for a U.S. rate hike as soon as next month continued to support the greenback and as investors eyed the release of U.S. economic reports due later in the day.
USD/JPY added 0.19% to 112.59.
The greenback remained supported after Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker said late Tuesday that the U.S. central bank should raise interest rates as early as next month if the U.S. economy continues to improve.
Chicago Fed President Charles Evans said he expects two more rate hikes before the years end, if the economy remains on track.
The comments came a day after Atlanta Federal Reserve President Dennis Lockhart signaled that the Fed could hike interest rates in April.
EUR/USD held steady at 1.1187.
Markets were still jittery after a series of terrorist attacks in Brussels on Tuesday killed 31 people and injured hundreds.
The dollar was little changed against the pound, with GBP/USD at 1.4126 and was lower against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF down 0.16% at 0.9739.
The U.K. Office for National Statistics earlier reported that retail sales decreased by 0.4% last month, compared to forecasts for a decline of 0.7%. Retail sales in January rose by 2.3%.
Year-on-year, retail sales rose by 3.8% in February, matching expectations, after rising at a rate of 5.4% a month earlier.
Core retail sales, which exclude automobile sales, dipped by 0.2% last month, better than forecasts for a decline of 1.0% and following a jump of 2.3% in January.
Meanwhile, the Australian and New Zealand dollars were weaker, with AUD/USD slipping 0.20% to 0.7516 and with NZD/USD edging down 0.12% to 0.6695.
USD/CAD rose 0.20% to 1.3232.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was steady at 96.08, close to a one-week high of 96.39 hit earlier in the session.