Investing.com - The dollar extended gains against the other majors currencies on Friday, boosted by the release of U.S. consumer sentiment data and as investors began to turn their attention to the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting next week.
In a preliminary report, the University of Michigan said its consumer sentiment index rose to a 23-month high of 98.0 in December from 93.8 the previous month, beating expectations for an increase to 94.5.
The greenback also remained supported ahead of the Fed’s policy meeting next week, amid sustained expectations for a rate hike.
EUR/USD dropped 0.65% to 1.0548, the lowest since December 5, still affected by the ECB’s decision at its monthly policy meeting on Thursday to 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.
Elsewhere, GBP/USD was little changed at 1.2580.
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 jumped 0.94% to 11510, while USD/CHF gained 0.38% to 1.0201.
The Australian dollar held steady, with AUD/USD at 0.7465, while NZD/USD slipped 0.17% to 0.7162.
Meanwhile, USD/CAD eased 0.09% to trade at 1.3180.
The commodity-related loonie was supported by sharply higher oil prices on Friday, as oil producers were set to meet in Vienna on Saturday to see if non-OPEC countries will agree to cut production in a move to reduce a global supply glut.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.52% at a fresh four-day high of 101.64.