Investing.com - The dollar was little changed against the euro and the yen on Friday, after the European Central Bank held back from introducing additional easing measures and as speculation surrounding radical stimulus measures by the Bank of Japan were shot down.
EUR/USD held steady at 1.1033 after the ECB left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at a record-low 0.0% on Thursday.
Commenting on the decision, ECB President Mario Draghi said that European markets weathered the post-Brexit volatility with “encouraging resilience”, but reiterated that the central bank is ready to act by using all the instruments available under its mandate if necessary.
USD/JPY was little changed at 105.87, off the previous session’s seven-week high of 107.48.
The yen had strengthened on Thursday after Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda in a BBC interview played down speculation Japan may be preparing "helicopter money" economic stimulus, which essentially consists in injecting cash directly to the economy by printing money.
But the BBC later said its interview with Kuroda had been conducted in mid-June, which pushed the yen back down.
Meanwhile, the dollar remained supported after positive U.S. data on Thursday boosted optimism over the strength of the economy.
Data showed that U.S. existing home sales increased unexpectedly by 1.1% in June to 5.57 million units, while a separate report showed that U.S. jobless claims fell unexpectedly by 1,000 to 253,000 last week.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was steady at 96.92, not far from Wednesday’s four-month highs of 97.37.