Investing.com - The dollar bounced off seven-week lows against the other major currencies on Friday, as the previous session’s U.S. data continued to support and as comments by San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams reignited some hopes for a near-time rate hike.
EUR/USD fell 0.27% to 1.1331, off Thursday’s seven-week high of 1.1367.
The dollar remained supported after data on Thursday showed that initial jobless claims decreased by 4,000 to 262,000 last week, compared to expectations for a 1,000 decline to 265,000.
Separately, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said that its manufacturing index rose to 2.0 this month from July’s reading of minus 2.9, in line with the consensus estimate.
The greenback had weakened broadly after the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s July policy meeting released on Wednesday showed that policymakers were still divided over the need to raise interest rates this year.
However, San Francisco Fed President John Williams on Thursday expressed his support for a U.S. interest rate hike in coming months, saying that waiting too long could be costly for the economy.
GBP/USD slid 0.33% to a 1.3125, after hitting two-and-a-half week highs of 1.3173 on Thursday.
Markets shrugged off a report by the U.K. Office for National Statistics saying that public sector net borrowing declined by £1.47 billion in July, compared to expectations for a £1.20 billion fall.
Public sector net borrowing increased by £7.51 billion in June, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated £7.31 billion gain.
USD/JPY rose 0.20% to 100.08, still close to Tuesday’s one-and-a-half month low of 99.52, while USD/CHF gained 0.28% to 0.9569.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars were weaker, with AUD/USD down 0.88% at 0.7618 and with NZD/USD sliding 0.34% to 0.7267.
Elsewhere, USD/CAD advanced 0.34% to 1.2825, pulling away from Thursday’s seven-week trough of 1.2759.
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 94.39, off Thursday’s seven-week trough of 94.05.