By William L. Watts, MarketWatch LONDON (MarketWatch) -- The U.S. dollar was higher versus most major rivals Friday, while the euro slumped after German central bank chief Axel Weber signaled that the European Central Bank will maintain its emergency lending support through the end of the year. The euro (EURUSD 1.2706, -0.0114, -0.8893%) traded at $1.2702 versus the dollar, down from $1.2819 in North American trade late Thursday. The euro also lost ground versus the Japanese yen to trade at ¥108.38 versus ¥109.42 Thursday. Weber, in an interview with Bloomberg, said the ECB would likely wait until the first quarter of next year to decide whether to begin phasing out short-term, emergency liquidity measures. The ECB had been expected to weigh whether to begin slowly phasing out the range of unlimited short-term loans at its September meeting. Read about Weber's remarks. Since Weber is viewed as one of the most hawkish, or inflation-focused, members of the ECB, the remarks are seen as a signal that the central bank now will indeed maintain the extra liquidity measures through the end of the year, said Ulrich Leuchtmann, currency strategist at Commerzbank in Frankfurt. The dollar index (DXY 83.03, +0.58, +0.71%) , a measure of the greenback against a basket of major rivals, rose to 83.02 from 82.48. The euro (EURUSD 1.2706, -0.0114, -0.8893%) traded at $1.2702 versus the dollar, down from $1.2819 in North American trade late Thursday. The euro also lost ground versus the Japanese yen to trade at ¥108.38 versus ¥109.42 Thursday. Weber, in an interview with Bloomberg, said the ECB would likely wait until the first quarter of next year to decide whether to begin phasing out short-term, emergency liquidity measures. The ECB had been expected to weigh whether to begin slowly phasing out the range of unlimited short-term loans at its September meeting. Read about Weber's remarks. Since Weber is viewed as one of the most hawkish, or inflation-focused, members of the ECB, the remarks are seen as a signal that the central bank now will indeed maintain the extra liquidity measures through the end of the year, said Ulrich Leuchtmann, currency strategist at Commerzbank in Frankfurt. The dollar index (DXY 83.03, +0.58, +0.71%) , a measure of the greenback against a basket of major rivals, rose to 83.02 from 82.48. A sharp decline in risk appetite in the wake of Thursday's unexpected rise in U.S. weekly jobless claims and a downturn in the Philadelphia Fed's manufacturing index served to bolster the dollar and, in particular, the Swiss franc, strategists said. The euro (EURCHF 1.3147, -0.0082, -0.6199%) fell 0.6% versus the Swiss unit to change hands at 1.3141 francs. The U.S. dollar rose 0.2% against the franc (USDSWF 1.0342, +0.0024, +0.2326%) to trade at CHF1.0342, but the Swiss currency has outpaced the dollar since the end of last week when it traded around CHF1.05. "Two awful U.S. data releases yesterday have undone all of the positive pro-risk vibes associated with GM, BHP and Intel, sparking the return of the safe-haven short-end bid and boosting the attractiveness of the [Swiss franc], even versus the Japanese yen," said Kenneth Broux, senior market economist at Lloyds TSB. The British pound (GBPUSD 1.5527, -0.0073, -0.4681%) lost ground versus the U.S. unit to trade at $1.5504, down from $1.5598. The U.S. dollar rose 0.2% versus the yen (USDYEN 85.3000, +0.0400, +0.0469%) to trade at ¥85.32.

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