On Friday the greenback lost some ground but was still soaring around 11-year high versus the other major currencies, as
investors were expecting the release of fourth-quarter U.S. economic growth
data, as well as additional U.S. reports due later in the day.
The dollar remained supported after the Federal Reserve indicated this week that interest rates could start to rise around mid-year. The greenback was also supported by data on Thursday showing that U.S. jobless claims fell to the lowest level since 2000 last week.
EUR/USD was almost unchanged at 1.1320 after Eurostat reported that the annual rate of euro zone inflation fell by 0.6% in January, after a 0.2% slip in December. Economists had expected an annual decline of 0.5%.
Core inflation, which strips out volatile measures such as food and energy costs, rose 0.5% on a year-over-year basis, but was still well below the European Central Bank's target of close to, but just under 2%.
Eurostat said in a separate report that the euro zone’s unemployment rate ticked down to 11.4% in December from 11.5% the previous month, confounding expectations for the rate to remain unchanged.
Earlier Friday, official data showed that French consumer spending increased by 1.5% in December, exceeding expectations for a 0.2% rise, while a separate report showed that Spanish GDP rose 0.7% in the fourth quarter of 2014, above expectations for a 0.6% gain.
In Germany, retail sales gained 0.2% last month, official data showed, disappointing expectations for a 0.3% rise.
The British currency rose, with GBP/USD up 0.09% to 1.5082 after data showed that U.K. net lending to individuals fell to £2.2 billion in December from a revised £3.1 billion in November.
Data also showed that U.K. mortgage approvals rose by 60,280 last month after a downwardly revised 58,960 increase in November, compared to expectations for a 59,000 rise.
Moreover, the U.K. Gfk consumer confidence index improved to 1 this month from minus 4 in December, compared to expectations for a reading of minus 2.
The cable USD/CHF slipped 0.10% to trade at 0.9223, while USD/JPY declined 0.57% to 117.63.
A preliminary report earlier showed that Japanese industrial production rose 1.0% in December, confounding expectations for an increase of 1.3%, while a separate report showed that household spending in Japan rose 0.4% last month, below expectations for a 0.3% gain.
In Switzerland, the KOF Economic Research Agency said that its economic barometer fell to 97.0 this month from 98.8 in December, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated reading of 98.7. Analysts had expected the index to decline to 97.5 in January.
The Aussie and kiwi were lower, with AUD/USD slipping 0.23% near five-and-a-half year lows at 0.7751, while NZD/USD fell 0.21% close to a three-year trough at 0.7252. The Canadian dollar was near Thursday's six-year lows, with USD/CAD rising 0.27% to 1.2651.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release preliminary data on fourth quarter growth as well as reports on business activity in the Chicago region and revised data on consumer sentiment.
