Investing.com - The dollar slid lower against the euro and the yen on Friday, as markets took a breather after the Federal Reserve's rate hike on Wednesday and as the Bank of Japan's kept its monetary policy unchanged.
EUR/USD rose 0.30% to 1.0858.
The dollar had strengthened broadly after the Fed raised interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point to between 0.25% and 0.50% at the conclusion of its two-day policy meeting on Wednesday. It was the first rate hike in the U.S. since 2006.
Commenting on the decision, Fed Chair Janet Yellen said that further rate hikes would be gradual and data dependent.
Adding to optimism over the strength of the U.S. economy, the Department of Labor said on Thursday that the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending December 11 decreased by 11,000 to 271,000 from the previous week’s total of 282,000.
Analysts expected jobless claims to fall by 7,000 to 275,000 last week.
USD/JPY dropped 0.56% to trade at 121.87.
The yen found support after the BoJ decided to continue expanding the monetary base at an annual pace an annual pace of ¥80 trillion.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.44% at 98.76, off the previous session's two-week high of 99.35.