Investing.com - The dollar moved higher against other major currencies on Friday, as expectations for a 2016 U.S. rate hike continued to support, while investors eyed U.S. retail sales and consumer sentiment data, as well as a speech by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen due later in the day.
EUR/USD slid 0.32% to 1.1023, close to Thursday’s more than two-month trough of 1.0981.
The greenback remained supported after the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s September policy meeting released on Wednesday showed several voting members of the policy committee judged a rate hike would be warranted "relatively soon" if the U.S. economy continued to strengthen.
The dollar was also helped by data on Thursday showing that U.S. initial jobless claims held steady at 246,000 in the week ending October 8. Analysts expected jobless claims to rise by 8,000.
GBP/USD dropped 0.52% to trade at 1.2190.
Meanwhile, USD/JPY gained 0.35% to 104.08, re-approaching Thursday’s more than two-month peak of 104.63.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.30% at 97.82, just off Thursday’s seven-month high of 98.12.