Investing.com - The U.S. dollar held steady against other major currencies on Friday, as investors remained cautious ahead of the release of key U.S. employment data due later in the day, while hawkish comments by the Federal Reserve this year continued to lend mild support.
The greenback briefly rebounded after the Fed, at the conclusion of its policy meeting on Wednesday, signaled its confidence about inflation and growth in the U.S.
The Fed said that inflation is likely to rise this year, boosting expectations for further interest rate hikes under incoming central bank head Jerome Powell.
The Fed left rates unchanged on Wednesday, in widely expected move. The meeting was current Fed chair Janet Yellen's last.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.08% at 88.55 by 02:00 a.m. ET (06:00 GMT).
The euro was fractionally lower, with EUR/USD down 0.08% at 1.2400, while GBP/USD sheld steady at 1.4262.
The yen was weaker, with USD/JPY up 0.28% at 109.73, while USD/CHF was little changed at 0.9268.
Elsewhere, the Australian and New Zealand dollars were lower, with AUD/USD down 0.41% at 0.7372 and with NZD/USD shedding 0.31% to 0.7374.
Meanwhile, USD/CAD edged up 0.10% to trade at 1.2278.