Investing.com - The dollar moved higher against the other major currencies on Friday, re-approaching a seven-month peak as investors awaited the release of U.S. data later in the day, as well as a speech by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen.
EUR/USD slid 0.36% to 1.1018, close to Thursday’s more than two-month trough of 1.0981.
The greenback remained supported after the minutes of the Fed’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.
USD/JPY gained 0.49% to trade at 104.22, re-approaching Thursday’s more than two-month peak of 104.63.
Demand for the safe-haven yen weakened after data earlier showed that China’s consumer price index rose 0.7% in September, beating expectations for an uptick of 0.3%. Year-on-year, consumer prices increased 1.9% last month, compared to expectations for a 1.6% gain.
The positive report eased concerns over global economic growth after data on Thursday showed that China’s trade surplus narrowed to $41.99 billion in September from $52.05 billion the previous month. Analysts had expected the trade surplus to widen to $53.00 billion last month.
GBP/USD slid 0.21% to 1.2229, while USD/CHF edged up 0.19% to 0.9881.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars were stronger, with AUD/USD up 0.63% at 0.7616 and with NZD/USD adding 0.17% to 0.7109.
Meanwhile, USD/CAD held steady at 1.3202.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.31% at 97.83, just off Thursday’s seven-month high of 98.12.