Investing.com - The dollar slipped lower against the other major currencies on Friday, as investors locked in profits after the greenback rallied to three-week highs thanks to upbeat U.S. data and the perspective of additional easing measures by the European Central Bank.
The dollar was lower against the yen, with USD/JPY shedding 0.20% to 120.45, after rising to a one-month peak of 120.99 overnight.
The greenback was boosted after the U.S. Department of Labor reported on Thursday that the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending October 17 increased by 3,000 to 259,000 from the previous week’s total of 256,000.
Analysts had expected jobless claims to rise by 9,000 to 265,000.
In addition, the U.S. National Association of Realtors said that existing home sales increased by 4.7% to 5.55 million units last month from 5.30 million in August. Analysts had expected existing home sales to rise 1.4% to 5.38 million units in September.
EUR/USD added 0.18% to trade at 1.1124, off a two-month low of 1.1075 hit overnight.
The single currency weakened broadly after ECB President Draghi said the central bank will "reexamine" its monetary policy in December, hinting at the possibility for further easing measures.
Speaking at the ECB's monthly press conference, Mr. Draghi added that the ECB's quantitative easing program is set to run until 2016 or beyond if necessary.
Earlier Friday, research group Markit said that Germany's preliminary manufacturing purchasing managers' index ticked down to 51.6 this month from 52.3 in September, while the services PMI rose to 55.2 from 54.1.
In France, the preliminary manufacturing PMI came in at 50.7 in October, Market reported, up from 50.6 the previous month, while the services PMI ticked up to 52.3 from 51.9.
For the entire euro zone, Markit said the composite PMI, which includes both manufacturing and service sector activity, rose to 54.0 in October from 53.6 the previous month.
Elsewhere, the dollar was steady against the pound, with GBP/USD at 1.5405 and fractionally lower against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF easing 0.08% to 0.9725.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars were stronger, with AUD/USD gaining 0.95% to 0.7276 and with NZD/USD rising 0.38% to 0.6820.
Meanwhile, USD/CAD held steady at 1.3084.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.10% at 96.34, off three-week highs of 96.65 reached overnight.