Investing.com - The greenback rallied on Friday after inflation data came in as expected and increased expectations that the Federal Reserve will pause its rate of interest rate hikes.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a basket of six major currencies, inched up 0.11% to 95.21.
The consumer price index rose 1.9% from a year ago, while core inflation, that excludes volatile food and energy costs, increased 2.2%.
Both readings matched the reading in the prior month and were in line with consensus forecasts.
Fed chairman Jerome Powell made remarks Thursday that served as another sign that policymakers are in no hurry to hike rates as they look to have a better handle on whether slowing global growth and financial market volatility will negatively impact the U.S. economy.
“Especially with inflation low and under control we have the ability to be patient and watch patiently and carefully as we ... figure out which of these two narratives is going to be the story of 2019,” Powell said.
The euro fell due to the stronger dollar, with EUR/USD falling 0.19% to 1.1474 Elsewhere, the pound rose after the UK government denied that it was postponing the date for Brexit. GBP/USD jumped 0.5% to 1.2819.
The Australian dollar increased, with AUD/USD rising 0.2% to 0.7197 and NZD/USD up 0.6% to 0.6819.