Investing.com - The dollar was little changed against the other major currencies on Friday, as markets eyed upcoming U.S. personal spending and consumer sentiment reports, while Thursday's upbeat data continued to support the greenback.
Demand for the dollar remained supported after preliminary data on Thursday showed that the U.S. economy grew more than expected in the second quarter, while a separate report showed that the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits declined unexpectedly last week.
EUR/USD was steady at 1.3182, after preliminary data showed that euro zone consumer price inflation ticked down to an annualized rate of 0.3% this month from 0.4% in July , in line with expectations.
Core consumer price inflation, which excludes food, energy, alcohol, and tobacco, rose to 0.9% in August compared to a year ealier, from 0.8% in July.
A separate report showed that the euro zone's unemployment rate remained unchanged at 11.5% last month, in line with expectations.
Earlier Friday, official data showed that German retail sales declined 1.4% in July, disappointing expectations for a 0.1% rise, after a 1.0% gain in June, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated 1.3% advance.
The pound edged higher, with GBP/USD adding 0.08% to 1.6602. Earlier Friday, the Nationwide Building Society reported that U.K. house price inflation climbed 0.8% this month, exceeding expectations for a 0.1% gain.
The dollar rose against the yen, with USD/JPY up 0.15% to 103.88 and steady against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF at 0.9150.
Official data earlier showed that household spending in Japan dropped at a annualized rate of 5.7% in July, while a preliminary report showed that industrial production rose 0.2% last month, disapointing expectations for an increase of 1.0%..
Retail sales in Japan rose at annualized rate of 0.5% in July, beating expectations for a 0.1% uptick, after a 0.6% fall in June.
In Switzerland, the KOF Economic Research Agency said its economic barometer rose to 99.5 in August, from a downwardly revised reading of 97.9, compared to expectations for a slip to 97.8.
Meanwhile, the Australian, New Zealand were little changed, with AUD/USD at 0.9351, NZD/USD at 0.8387, while USD/CAD slipped 0.11% to 1.0849.
A report showed that New Zealand's ANZ business confidence index dropped to a 20-month low of 24.4 this month from a reading of 39.7 in July.
The US Dollar Index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was up 0.02% at 82.54.