Investing.com - The dollar held steady, close four-year highs against a basket of other major currencies on Friday, as investors awaited the release of U.S. economic reports later in the day and expectations for an early U.S. rate hike continued to support.
Demand for the dollar remained supported by mounting expectations that the Federal Reserve could raise interest rates sooner than expected.
On Thursday, Dallas Federal Reserve President Richard Fisher said that the U.S. central bank may start raising interest rates around the spring of 2015.
The US Dollar Index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was steady at 85.34, not far from Thursday's high of 85.61, the highest level since July 2010.
USD/JPY edged up 0.23%, hovering close to a six-year peak at 108.99.
Earlier Friday, data showed that Japan's consumer price inflation rose at an annualized rate of 3.3% this month, below expectations for a 3.4% increase.
Core consumer price inflation, which excludes fresh food, rose 3.1% in September from a year earlier, compared to expectations for an increase of 3.2%.
The euro held steady near two-year lows against the dollar, with EUR/USD at 1.2749 after data earlier showed that the Gfk German consumer climate index ticked down to 8.3 this month, from a reading of 8.6 in August. Analysts had expected the index to slip to 8.5.
The report added to concerns over the outlook for growth in the euro zone's biggest economy as data on Wednesday showed that Germany's Ifo business confidence index deteriorated for the fifth successive month in September.
The single currency dropped to nearly two-year lows against the dollar on Thursday after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi reiterated the bank's commitment to act with more policy measures to boost inflation in the euro zone.
Elsewhere, GBP/USD was little changed at 1.6319, while USD/CHF held near 14-month highs at 0.9469.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars were lower. AUD/USD hit fresh seven-month lows and was last down 0.09% at 0.8780, while NZD/USD fell to a new one-year trough, shedding 0.23% to trade at 0.7906.
Meanwhile, USD/CAD rose to fresh six-month highs and was last up 0.07% to 1.1116.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to released revised data on second quarter economic growth, as well as a report by the University of Michigan on consumer sentiment.