Investing.com - The dollar slipped lower against other major currencies on Friday, as markets awaited the release of additional U.S. economic reports due later in the day and as geopolitical tensions re-emerged following a new missile test by North Korea.
USD/JPY was up 0.48% at 110.78, while USD/CHF fell 0.19% to trade at 0.9610.
The yen hit a seven-week high against the dollar late Thursday, following news North Korea fired a missile over Japan into the Pacific Ocean. It was the peninsula's second missile launch over Japanese territory in just over two weeks.
Japan reacted by saying that Pyongyang has “no bright future” and called for an emergency meeting of the U.N. security council.
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called for the international community to take “new measures” against North Korea, singling out Russia and China as the countries best placed to apply pressure on the regime.
The greenback had found support after the U.S. Commerce Department reported on Thursday that consumer price inflation rose more than expected in August.
The strong inflation data added was seen as increasing the chances of an additional rate hike by the Federal Reserve this year.
A separate report showed that initial jobless claims unexpectedly declined to 284,000 last week.
Investors were eyeing reports on U.S. retail sales, industrial production and consumer sentiment, due later Friday for further indications on the strength of the economy.
Elsewhere, EUR/USD rose 0.23% to 1.1946, while GBP/USD rallied 1.05% to a 15-month peak of 1.3545, still supported by the Bank of England's indications on Thursday that interest rates could rise faster than expected amid accelerating inflation.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars were stronger, with AUD/USD up 0.26% at 0.8025 and with NZD/USD advancing 0.71% to 0.7271 after data earlier showed that the Business NZ Manufacturing Index rose to 57.9 in August from 55.4 the previous month.
Meanwhile, USD/CAD slid 0.29% to trade at 1.2130.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.24%at 91.81 by 05:20 a.m. ET (09:20 GMT), after hitting a one-and-a-half week high of 92.66 on Thursday.