Investing.com - The dollar pushed lower against a basket of other major currencies on Friday, as mounting hopes for progress in Greece debt negotiations boosted demand for riskier assets.
EUR/USD rallied 1.40% to 1.1191 after the Eurogroup described Greece's latest reform proposals aimed at securing a vital third bailout as "thorough".
Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem said a "major decision... whichever way" could now be made at a euro zone finance meeting on Saturday.
Late Thursday, the Greek government offered to make painful spending cuts and hike taxes, in a last-ditch request to win one more bailout from Europe before the country descends into bankruptcy.
Athens was seeking at least €50 billion over the next three years. In exchange, the government presented a number of austerity measures that were said to total between €12 billion and €13 billion - significantly more than Greece’s previous commitments.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was set to put the reforms to a vote in parliament later Friday.
The pound was also higher, with GBP/USD up 0.94% to 1.5523.
The U.K. Office for National Statistics reported on Friday that the trade deficit narrowed to £8.00 billion in May from £9.39 billion in April, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated deficit of £8.56 billion.
Analysts had expected the trade deficit to widen to £9.70 billion in May.
Elsewhere, the dollar was higher against the yen, with USD/JPY up 0.84% to 122.36 and lower against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF tumbling 1.30% to 0.9354.
The yen came under pressure as demand for safe-haven assets weakened after the Shanghai Composite rallied over 4% on Friday.
The surge was sparked after Chinese authorities increased scrutiny of short selling and eased rules for insurers to invest in blue-chips stocks in wake of China’s recent stock plunge.
Equity markets in China have lost more than 30% over the past three weeks, roiling global financial markets.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars were higher, with AUD/USD up 0.26% to 0.7465 and with NZD/USD adding 0.12% to 0.6750.
Earlier Friday, data showed that Australia's home loans declined by 6.1% in May, confounding expectations for a 3.5% fall. Home loans rose 0.7% in April, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated gain of 1.0%.
Meanwhile, USD/CAD slid 0.30% to trade at 1.2670 after data showed that the number of employed people in Canada declined by 6,700 in June, compared to expectations for a 10,000 drop. The number of employed people rose by 58,900 in May.
Canada's unemlpoyment rate remained unchanged at 6.8% last month, confounding expectations for an uptick to 6.9%.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 1.01% at 95.69, the lowest level since June 30.