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Investing.com - The dollar pushed lower against the other major currencies in quiet trade on Friday, after data showed that U.S. worker pay rose at the slowest pace since 1982 in the last quarter, overshadowing the previous session's upbeat U.S. economic growth report.
The Labor Department reported on Friday that U.S. employment costs rose 0.2%, the lowest gain since 1982, compared to expectations for a 0.6% increase. U.S. employment costs rose 0.7% in the three months to March.
The report came a day after the Commerce Department said that U.S. gross domestic product expanded at an annual rate of 2.3% in the three months to June. First quarter growth was revised up to 0.6% from a previously reported contraction of 0.2%.
Although economists had forecast growth of 2.6% the report still indicated that the economy is on a solid footing.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.68% at 96.96, pulling away from Thursday's one-week high of 97.89.
EUR/USD jumped 0.99% to 1.1039, off the previous session's one-week lows of 1.0892.
The single currency found some support after data showed that the euro zone's consumer price inflation rose 0.2% in July, in line with expectations and unchanged from the previous montth.
Core CPI, which excludes food, energy, alcohol, and tobacco costs, increased by 1.0% this month, above expectations for an uptick of 0.8%.
A separate report showed that the euro zone's unemployment rate remained unchanged at 11.1% last month, in line with expectations.
The dollar edged lower against the yen, with USD/JPY down 0.17% to 123.91, after hitting one-and-a-half month highs of 124.58 on Thursday.
In Japan, data earlier showed that household spending dropped 3.0% in June, confounding expectations for a 0.5% downtick, after a 2.4% increase the previous month.
Data also showed that consumer prices in Tokyo rose 0.2% this month, in line with market expectations.
The dollar pulled back from Thursday's three-month highs of 0.9726 against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF down 1.05% to 0.9592, and turned lower against the pound, with GBP/USD adding 0.16% to 1.5626.
The commodity linked currencies were mixed, with AUD/USD steady at 0.7296, not far from Tuesday’s six year lows of 0.7256, while NZD/USD slid 0.39% to 0.6579.
Data on Friday showed that the ANZ Business Confidence Index for New Zealand fell to minus 15.3 in July from minus 2.3 the previous month.
In Australia, data showed that producer prices rose 0.3% in the second quarter, disappointing expectations for a 0.6% gain, after an uptick of 0.5% in the three months to March.
USD/CAD rose 0.25% to 1.3031 after Statistics Canada reported that the country's GDP fell 0.2% in May, disappointing expectations for a 0.1% rise, after a 0.1% downtick the previous month.
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