WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The U.S. dollar was fairly stronger against most of its peers on Friday as continued surge in coronavirus cases across the world helped keep its safe-haven appeal intact.
After recent encouraging news from Moderna and Pfizer, there are more positive updates on the vaccine front, with AstraZeneca and Oxford University announcing that their potential Covid-19 vaccine produced a strong immune response in older adults. Researchers expect to release late-stage trial results by Christmas.
The dollar index recovered after a somewhat sluggish display and hit a high of 92.43 around early afternoon, and was last seen at 92.36, up 0.07% from previous close.
Against the Euro, the dollar firmed up to $1.1860, recovering from $1.1892.
The Pound Sterling was stronger against the greenback, fetching $1.3291 a sterling, about 0.2% more than its previous close.
The Yen was slightly weaker at 103.84 a dollar, losing ground from 103.71 a dollar.
The Loonie was at 1.3093 a unit of greenback, falling from 1.3073. Data from Statistics Canada showed retails sales in the country rose 1.1% in September following an upwardly revised 0.5% increase in August. It was the fifth successive monthly rise in retail trade.
The data also said retail sales increased 4.6% in September 2020 over the same month in the previous year.
The Swiss franc was flat at 0.9110 a dollar.
Against the Aussie, the dollar was weaker by about 0.22% with the AUD-USD pair at 0.7304, as against Thursday's close of 0.7288, with strong Australian retail sales data supporting the Australian currency.
Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that the total value of retail sales in Australia climbed a seasonally adjusted 1.6 percent on month in October - coming in at A$29.618 billion.
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