Investing.com - The dollar gained ground against the euro and the yen on Friday, after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen signaled the possibility for a rate hike before the end of the year.
EUR/USD dropped 0.59% to trade at 1.1167, off the previous session's highs of 1.1296.
The dollar strengthened after Fed Chair Janet Yellen said she expected the central bank to begin raising rates later in 2015, as long as inflation remained stable and the U.S. economy was strong enough to boost employment.
The comments came after a string of U.S. data released on Thursday painted a mixed picture of the health of the economy.
The U.S. Department of Labor reported that the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits increased by 3,000 to 267,000 last week, compared to expectations for a 7,000 rise.
Separately, the U.S. Commerce Department said that durable goods orders decreased by 2.0% last month, matching forecasts, while core durable goods orders, which exclude volatile transportation items, were flat, compared to expectations for an increase of 0.1%.
Data also showed that U.S. new home sales increased by 5.9% to 552.000 units in August, beating expectations for a 1.6% rise.
USD/JPY rose 0.32% to 120.44.
Earlier Friday, official data showed that Tokyo's consumer price index fell at an annualized rate of 0.1% in September, compared to expectations for a 0.2% downtick.
Tokyo's core CPI, which excludes fresh food, fell at an annual rate of 0.2% this month, in line with expectations.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.49% at 96.57, re-approaching Wednesday's one-month highs of 96.65.