Investing.com - The dollar held onto modest gains against the other major currencies in quiet trade on Friday, although the Federal Reserve’s decision this week to leave interest rates on hold continued to weigh on the greenback.
USD/JPY gained 0.31% to 101.05, off Thursday’s one-month low of 100.06.
The greenback slightly recovered from broad losses posted after the Fed decided on Wednesday to leave interest rates unchanged and projected a less aggressive rise in interest rates next year and in 2018.
However, the U.S. central bank signaled that it could tighten monetary policy before the end of the year if the job market continued to improve.
EUR/USD held steady at 1.1210.
Earlier Friday, research group Markit said its German manufacturing purchasing managers’ index rose to 54.3 in September from 53.6 the previous month, beating expectations for a downtick to 53.1.
However, the German services PMI slipped to 50.6 this month from 51.7 in August.
Markit also reported that its French manufacturing PMI increased to 49.5 in September from 48.3 in August, compared to expectations for a rise to 48.4.
The French services PMI advanced to 54.1 this month from 52.3 in August.
For the entire euro zone, the composite PMI, which includes both manufacturing and service sector activity, slipped to 52.6 in Septemner from 52.8 the previous month. Analysts had expected the index to remain unchanged.
Meanwhile, GBP/USD tumbled 0.96% to 1.3009, the lowest since August 16, and USD/CHF rose 0.30% to trade at 0.9717.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars were weaker, with AUD/USD down 0.30% at 0.7620 and with NZD/USD losing 1.09% to 0.7233.
Elsewhere, USD/CAD climbed 0.84% to trade at 1.3151, off the previous session’s one-and-a-half week trough of September 9.
The loonie weakened after Statistics Canada said the consumer price index slipped 0.2% in August, confounding expectations for a 0.1% rise. Year-on-year, CPI increased by 1.1% last month, lower that expectations for a 1.4% gain.
Core CPI, which excludes the eight most volatile items, was flat in August, disappointing expectations for a 0.2% rise.
A separate report showed that Canada’s retail sales fell 0.1% in July, compared to expectations for an increase of 0.1%.
Core retail sales, which exclude automobiles, ticked down 0.1% in July, confounding expectations for a 0.5% rise.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.23% at 95.53, off a nearly two-week low of 94.95 on Thursday.