Investing.com - The dollar was mostly higher against a basket of other major currencies on Friday, as the previous session's U.S. jobless claims data continued to support and as investors awaited the highly-anticipated U.S. nonfarm payrolls report due later in the day.
The dollar remained supported after the U.S. Department of Labor reported on Thursday that the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending May 2 rose by 3,000 to 265,000 from the previous week's total of 262,000.
Analysts had expected initial jobless claims to rise by 18,000 to 280,000 last week.
Investors were now looking ahead to Friday's U.S. nonfarm payrolls report for further indications on the strength of the U.S. job market.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was steady at 94.74.
The pound climbed to two-and-a-half month highs, with GBP/USD up 1.28% to 1.5440.
Sterling found broad support after the Conservatives won more than half the seats in the Parliament on Thursday, outnumbering Labour and allowing David Cameron to end a coalition with the Liberal Democrats and govern alone.
Earlier Friday, industry data showed that U.K. house prices rose 1.6% last month, exceeding expectations for a 0.4% gain. March's figure was revised to an increase of 0.6% from a previously estimated 0.4% rise.
Separately, the Office for National Statistics said that the U.K. trade deficit narrowed to £10.12 billion in March from £10.80 billion, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated deficit of £10.34 billion. Analysts had expected the trade deficit to narrow to £9.80 billion in March.
The euro was lower, with EUR/USD down 0.25% to 1.1237.
Elsewhere, the dollar was higher against the yen, with USD/JPY rising 0.22% to 120.00 and steady against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF at 0.9211.
The minutes of the Bank of Japan's April policy meeting earlier showed that a majority of board members were in favor of continuing the bank's agressive asset-buying program.
However, board member Takahide Kiuchi called on the BOJ to immediately cut its annual bond purchase target by almost half to ¥45 trillion a year. But his proposal was defeated by a 8-1 vote.
In Switzerland, data on Friday showed that consumer prices fell 0.2% in April, disappointing expectations for a 0.1% uptick, after a 0.3% rise the previous month.
The Australian dollar was higher, with AUD/NZD up 0.21% to 0.7923 after the Reserve Bank of Australia's said in its monthly policy statement that it is open to further interest rate cuts amid concerns over slowing Chinese growth and weak business investment in Australia.
Meanwhile, NZD/USD held steady at 0.7446 and USD/CAD fell 0.28% to 1.2091.