By William L. Watts and Deborah Levine, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — The U.S. dollar slipped versus major rivals Friday, with the euro finding some support after economic growth in Germany and France topped expectations and lifted overall risk appetite, strategists said.
The euro EURUSD +0.2177% temporarily pushed above $1.4300 and lately changed hands at $1.4292, up from $1.4242 in North American trade late Thursday.
Euro-zone gross domestic product expanded 0.8% in the first quarter compared with the previous three months, topping forecasts for 0.6% growth.
Germany, Europe’s largest economy, reported a quarterly expansion of 1.5%, and France saw growth of 1%. Read about German-led GDP growth in the euro zone.
“With the [European Central Bank] focusing largely on the euro-zone ‘core,’ the base case of a 25-basis-point rate hike in July looks safe,” said Chris Walker, currency strategist at UBS.
The euro tumbled late last week and has been under pressure this week on rising expectations that Greece will have little choice but to restructure amid mounting fiscal pressures, potentially triggering contagion effects across the euro-zone periphery.
But traders may be wary of holding short euro positions going into the weekend as officials laid groundwork for a regularly scheduled meeting of European finance ministers Monday, said Steve Barrow, currency strategist at Standard Bank.
The dollar index DXY -0.22% , a measure of the U.S. unit against a basket of major rivals, fell to 74.983, down slightly from 75.199 Thursday.
Against the Japanese yen, the dollar USDYEN -0.4568% traded at ¥80.65, down from ¥80.88 Thursday.
The British pound GBPUSD -0.1044% pared a decline to trade at $1.6283, compared with $1.6289.
The dollar extended its decline slightly after data showed that the U.S. consumer-price index rose 0.4% last month, while prices excluding food and energy increased 0.2%. Both were in line with economists’ expectations. Read story on U.S. CPI.
