On Friday the greenback was broadly higher against its peers, as investors expected an upcoming report on U.S. nonfarm payrolls due later in the day.
The euro touched new lows, as ECB's Draghi confirmed the central bank will begin purchasing euro zone government bonds on Monday.
The euro was sent lower after Thursday's ECB statement, dropping to fresh 11-1/2 year lows, with EUR/USD down 0.56% to 1.0966. The common currency came under pressure after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi confirmed on Thursday that the ECB will begin purchasing euro zone government bonds on March 9 under its new quantitative easing program.
The combined asset purchases will amount to €60 billion per month and are expected to run until September 2016, or until the ECB sees that inflation is on a “sustained path” to its target of close to, but below, 2% in the medium term.
Moreover, the ECB lifted eurozone growth forecast for 2015 to 1.5% from 1.0% previously, followed by faster growth in 2016 and 2017. However, it cut its inflation forecast for 2015, saying it now expects inflation to be flat, down from 0.7% previously. It then expects inflation to increase to 1.5% in 2016, up from 1.3% and 1.8% in 2017.
Earlier Friday, official data showed that German industrial production rose 0.6% in January, exceeding expectations for a 0.5% gain. December's figure was revised to a 1.0% increase from a previously estimated 0.1% uptick.
In Switzerland, official data earlier indicated that consumer prices fell 0.3% last month, compared to expectations for a 0.1% downtick, after a 0.4% decline in January.
Year-on-year, Swiss consumer prices dropped 0.8% in February, exceeding expectations for a 0.6% fall, after a 0.5% slide the previous month.
The greenback held steady against the yen, with USD/JPY at 120.08 and higher against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF rising 0.30% to 0.9769.
In other trade, the British currency dipped to one-month lows, with GBP/USD shedding 0.39% to 1.5180.
The Australian dollar gained ground, with AUD/USD rising 0.27% to 0.7803, while NZD/USD declined 0.33% to 0.7459. Meanwhile, USD/CAD eased 0.09% to trade at 1.2476.
The U.S. is expected to release the closely watched government report on nonfarm payrolls, the unemployment rate and average earnings.
