Investing.com - The dollar pared losses against a basket of other major currencies on Friday, after a U.S. durable goods orders report lent some support to the greenback, although ongoing uncertainty over the timing of a U.S. rate hike was likely to limit gains.
Official data showed that U.S. durable goods orders rose 4.0% in March, beating expectations for a 0.6% gain.after a 1.4% decline the previous month.
Core durable goods orders, which exclude transportation items, fell 0.2% last month, confounding expectations for a 0.3% rise. February's figure wad revised to a 1.3% decline from a previously estimated 0.6% fall.
The data came after a recent string of downbeat U.S. economic reports prompted investors to push back expectations for a rate hike by the Federal Reserve.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.10% to 97.34.
The euro pulled away from two-and-a-half week highs of 1.0899 hit earlier in the session, with EUR/USD at 1.0832, still up 0.08% for the day.
The single currency strengthened earlier, after the Ifo Institute of Economic Research said that Germany's business climate index rose to a 10-month high of 108.6 in April from 107.9 in March, beating expectations for an uptick to 108.4.
GBP/USD was up 0.55% to 1.5138, just below a one-month peak of 1.5172 hit earlier in the day.
Elsewhere, the dollar was lower against the yen, with USD/JPY down 0.40% to 119.11 and steady against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF at 0.9548.
Earlier Friday, Swiss National Bank Chairman Thomas Jordan warned that the franc could rise due to uncertainty over the Greek debt crisis and it the central bank remains prepared to intervene in foreign exchange markets to weaken what it sees as too strong a currency.
Jordan said the SNB is monitoring the effect of the crisis on the franc and the potential impact on Switzerland "very closely."
The SNB chairman was speaking at the central bank's general meeting of shareholders, in Berne.
The Australian dollar was still higher, with AUD/USD rising 0.36% to 0.7806, while NZD/USD slipped 0.14% to 0.7581.
Meanwhile, the dollar erased losses against the Canadian dollar, with USD/CAD up 0.12% to 1.2158.