Investing.com - The dollar turned moderately higher against the other major currencies in quiet trade on Friday, as the previous session's upbeat U.S. data continued to support the greenback, as well as hints of additional easing measures by the European Central Bank.
The dollar was steady against the yen, with USD/JPY at 120.70, 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.
The euro erased earlier gains and EUR/USD was down 0.14% at 1.1089.
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 lower against the pound, with GBP/USD adding 0.10% to 1.5410 and steady against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF at 0.9736.
The Australian dollar was stronger, with AUD/USD gaining 0.95% to 0.7276, while NZD/USD held steady at 0.6796.
Also Friday, China's central bank cut interest rates for the sixth time since November in another attempt to boost the economy.
USD/CAD slipped 0.16% to trade at 1.3071.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.09% at 96.50, not far from the three-week highs of 96.65 reached overnight.