Investing.com - The dollar remained broadly higher against the other major currencies on Friday, close to a seven-month peak as the release of upbeat U.S. data boosted optimism over the strength of the economy and added to expectations for a 2016 rate hike.
EUR/USD dropped 0.54% to 1.0998, close to Thursday’s more than two-month trough of 1.0981.
Data on Friday showed that U.S. retail sales rose 0.6% in September, in line with expectations and after a revised 0.2% fall the previous month.
Core retail sales, which exclude automobiles, increased by 0.5% last month, beating expectations for a 0.4% gain.
A separate report showed that the U.S. producer price index rose 0.3% in September, compared to expectations for an increase of 0.2%.
Core PPI, which excludes food and energy, ticked up 0.2% last month, exceeding expectations for a 0.1% rise.
The greenback also 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.
USD/JPY advanced 0.73% to trade at 104.46, 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 0.24% to 1.2223, while USD/CHF gained 0.38% to 0.9899.
The Australian dollar was stronger, with AUD/USD up 0.73% at 0.7624, while NZD/USD slipped 0.13% to 0.7088.
Meanwhile, USD/CAD edged down 0.12% to 1.3176.
The commodity-related loonie benefited from higher oil prices on Friday, although skepticism surrounding the recent OPEC deal continued to loom.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.29% at 97.79, just off Thursday’s seven-month high of 98.12.