Investing.com - The dollar held steady against the other majors currencies on Friday, as investors continued to digest the European Central Bank’s latest policy move and eyed the release of U.S. consumer sentiment data due later in the day.
EUR/USD edged up 0.09% to 1.0627, recovering from sharp losses posted on Thursday after the ECB said at its monthly policy meeting that it would extend its asset purchase program for an additional nine months.
Beyond the program’s scheduled end in March 2017, the central bank said net asset purchases are intended to continue at a monthly pace of €60 billion until the end of December 2017, or beyond, if necessary.
In addition, the ECB left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at a record-low of zero, in line with forecasts.
Meanwhile, the dollar also found support after the U.S. Labor Department said on Thursday that initial jobless claims fell by 10,000 to 258,000 in the week ending December 2, in line with expectations.
Sentiment on the greenback became more fragile however ahead of the Fed’s policy meeting next week, amid sustained expectations for a rate hike.
Elsewhere, GBP/USD added 0.28% to trade at 1.2613.
Earlier Friday, data showed that the U.K. trade deficit narrowed to £9.71 billion in October from £13.83 billion in September, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated deficit of £12.70 billion.
Analysts had expected the trade deficit to narrow to £11.80 billion in October.
USD/JPY gained 0.36% to 114.42, while USD/CHF held steady at 1.0157.
The Australian dollar was stronger, with AUD/USD up 0.24% at 0.74816, while NZD/USD was almost unchanged at 0.7179.
Meanwhile, USD/CAD eased 0.08% to trade at 1.3181.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was little changed at 101.06, just off a four-day high of 101.35 hit overnight.