Investing.com - The dollar was broadly higher against a basket of other major currencies on Friday, as investors awaited an upcoming report on U.S. nonfarm payrolls due later in the day.
The euro dropped to fresh 11-1/2 year lows, with EUR/USD down 0.56% to 1.0966.
The euro came under pressure after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi confirmed on Thursday that the ECB will begin purchasing euro zone government bonds on March 9 under its new quantitative easing program.
The combined asset purchases will amount to €60 billion per month and are expected to run until September 2016, or until the ECB sees that inflation is on a “sustained path” to its target of close to, but below, 2% in the medium term.
In addition, the ECB raised its growth forecast for this year to 1.5% from 1.0% previously, followed by faster growth in 2016 and 2017.
But it cut its inflation forecast for 2015, saying it now expects inflation to be flat, down from 0.7% previously. It then expects inflation to increase to 1.5% in 2016, up from 1.3% and 1.8% in 2017.
Earlier Friday, official data showed that German industrial production rose 0.6% in January, exceeding expectations for a 0.5% gain. December's figure was revised to a 1.0% increase from a previously estimated 0.1% uptick.
The dollar was steady the yen, with USD/JPY at 120.08 and higher against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF rising 0.30% to 0.9769.
In Switzerland, official data earlier showed that consumer prices fell 0.3% last month, compared to expectations for a 0.1% downtick, after a 0.4% decline in January.
Year-on-year, Swiss consumer prices dropped 0.8% in February, exceeding expectations for a 0.6% fall, after a 0.5% slide the previous month.
In other trade, sterling fell to one-month lows, with GBP/USD shedding 0.39% to 1.5180.
The Australian dollar gained ground, with AUD/USD rising 0.27% to 0.7803, while NZD/USD declined 0.33% to 0.7459.
Meanwhile, USD/CAD eased 0.09% to trade at 1.2476.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.34% to 96.74.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release the closely watched government report on nonfarm payrolls, the unemployment rate and average earnings.