Investing.com - The dollar was little changed at eight-month lows against other major currencies on Friday, as expectations for tighter monetary policies around the world continued to weigh and as investors eyed a string of U.S. data due later in the day.
EUR/USD slipped 0.13% to 1.1426, just off the previous session’s 13-month peak of 1.1445.
The euro strengthened broadly after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi indicated on Tuesday that the bank could soon start to unwind its quantitative easing program.
GBP/USD held steady at 1.3002, after hitting a six-week high of 1.3026 overnight.
The pound was also supported after Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said Wednesday that some removal of monetary stimulus is likely to become necessary as spare capacity in the economy erodes.
The BoE’s monetary policy committee was split 5-3 at its meeting earlier this month on whether to raise interest rates from a record-low 0.25%. Carney voted to keep rates unchanged.
Meanwhile, USD/JPY edged down 0.13% to trade at 112.05.
Earlier Friday, data showed that China’s official manufacturing purchasing manager’s index rose to 51.7 in June from 51.2 the previous month. Analysts had expected the index to slip to 51.0 this month.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars were both higher after the data, with AUD/USD up 0.08% at 0.7688 and with NZD/USD gaining 0.30% to 0.7322.
China is Australia’s biggest export partner and New Zealand’s second biggest export partner.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was steady at a fresh eight-month low of 95.37.