Investing.com - The dollar continued to trade at two-and-a-half week highs against other major currencies on Friday, as a disappointing U.S. consumer sentiment report was offset by positive U.S. employment data.
In a preliminary report, the University of Michigan said its consuner sentiment index slipped to 96.8 in December from 98.5 the previous month, disappointing expectations for an increase to 90.6.
The data came after the U.S. Department of Labor said the economy created 228,000 in November, beating expectations for an increase of 200,000 jobs.
The unemployment rate held at 4.1% last month, in line with expectations.
However, the report also showed that average hourly earnings rose by 0.2% in November, below forecasts for a gain of 0.3%.
The greenback was already supported after the U.S. Congress on Thursday passed legislation to temporarily fund the government through December 22, before a Friday midnight deadline and fuelling hopes the highly-anticipated U.S. tax reform will also be passed before the end of the year.
U.S. Senate Republicans agreed to talks with the House of Representatives on a major tax reform bill on Wednesday, signaling that lawmakers could agree on a final bill ahead of a self-imposed December 22 deadline.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.16% at 93.89 by 10:45 a.m. ET (14:45 GMT), the highest since November 21.
The euro held steady, with EUR/USD at 1.1765, while GBP/USD dropped 0.65% to trade at 1.3386.
Sterling initially strengthened after European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said that "sufficient progress" has been made in the first phase of Brexit talks and that discussions can now move to trade.
Also Friday, the UK Office for National Statistics reported that manufacturing production rose unexpectedly by 0.1% in October, while industrial production was flat.
Elsewhere, USD/JPY gained 0.34% to 113.47, while USD/CHF was little changed at 0.9937.
The Australian dollar was steady, with AUD/USD at 0.7513, while NZD/USD rose 0.29% to 0.6851.
Meanwhile, USD/CAD was almost unchanged at 1.2858 even as data showed that Canada's housing starts rose to 252,000 units in November from 222,700 the previous month, beating expectations for an increase to 221,000.