WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The U.S. dollar weakened to a two-weak low on Friday, amid growing signs the Federal Reserve will continue to hold interest rates unchanged this year.
The dollar shed ground despite a rise in producer price indices.
The dollar index dropped to a low of 96.75 around noon, and despite recovering to 96.95 subsequently, was still languishing below the unchanged line, losing about 0.2%.
The Euro was trading at $1.1298, gaining about 0.4% from $1.1254. The euro strengthened to a high of $1.1327 at one stage.
The greenback was lower against the Sterling as well. After weakening to $1.3132, it recovered to $1.3071, but was still quite some way off from Thursday's $1.3049.
The dollar was stronger against the yen, with a unit fetching around 112 yen, a more than one-month high.
In U.S. economic news today, data released by the Labor Department showed U.S. import prices increased by more than expected in the month of March, due to another spike in prices of fuel imports.
The report said import prices climbed by 0.6% in March after jumping by an upwardly revised 1% in February.
Economists had expected prices to rise by 0.4%, compared to the 0.6% increase originally reported for the previous month.
A report from the University of Michigan showed consumer sentiment has deteriorated by more than anticipated in the month of April.
The preliminary report showed the consumer sentiment index dropped to 96.9 in April from the final March reading of 98.4. Economists had expected the index to edge down to 98.0.
The bigger than expected decrease by the headline index reflected less optimism about the economic outlook, as the index of consumer expectations slid to 85.8 in April from 88.8 in March.
On the other hand, the report said the current economic conditions index inched up to 114.2 in April from 113.3 in the previous month.
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