Investing.com - The dollar slipped lower against other major currencies on Friday, as traders locked in profits from the greenback’s recent rally but losses were expected to remain limited by growing expectations for a U.S. rate hike this month.
EUR/USD edged up 0.19% to 1.0526, off the previous session’s one-week low of 1.0492.
The greenback remained broadly supported after a number of Federal Reserve officials this week expressed their support for a March rate hike.
The dollar was also boosted after the U.S. Department of Labor said initial jobless claims declined by 19,000 to 223,000 in the week ending February 25 from the previous week’s total of 242,000.
Analysts expected jobless claims to rise by 1,000 to 243,000 last week.
Markets shrugged off an earlier report showing that German retail sales declined 0.8% in January, disappointing expectations for a 0.2% rise and, after a 0.9% fall the previous month.
GBP/USD was almost unchanged at 1.2267, after hitting a six-week low of 1.2240 on Thursday.
Elsewhere, USD/JPY fell 0.23% to trade at 114.16.
Earlier Friday, official data showed that Japan’s household spending rose 0.5% in January, beating expectations for an uptick of 0.3%.
A separate report showed that Japan’s national consumer price index increased by an annualized rate of 0.4%, in line with expectations.
Tokyo’s CPI fell by an annualized rate of 0.3% last month, compared to expectations for a 0.1% dip.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.13% at 102.03, just off Thursday’s seven-week high of 102.27.