Investing.com - The dollar was little changed near seven-week highs against other major currencies on Friday, as traders locked in profits from the greenback’s recent rally and growing expectations for a U.S. rate hike this month continued to support.
EUR/USD edged up 0.15% to 1.0522, off the previous session’s one-week low of 1.0492.
The greenback remained broadly supported after a number of Federal Reserve officials this week expressed their support for a March rate hike.
The dollar was also boosted after the U.S. Department of Labor said on Thursday that initial jobless claims declined by 19,000 to 223,000 in the week ending February 25 from the previous week’s total of 242,000.
Analysts expected jobless claims to rise by 1,000 to 243,000 last week.
Markets shrugged off an earlier report showing that German retail sales declined 0.8% in January, disappointing expectations for a 0.2% rise and, after a 0.9% fall the previous month.
Elsewhere, GBP/USD fell 0.32% to a fresh six-week low of 1.2226 after research group Markit said its U.K. services purchasing managers’ index dropped to a five-month low of 53.3 last month from 54.5 in January. Analysts had expected the index to fall to 54.1 in February.
USD/JPY slipped 0.12% to 114.28, while USD/CHF held steady at 1.0127.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars were weaker, with AUD/USD down 0.21% at 0.7556 and with NZD/USD dropping 0.52% to 0.7029.
Meanwhile, USD/CAD added 0.16% to trade at 1.3412, the highest since January 4.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was little changed at 102.10, just off Thursday’s seven-week high of 102.27.