IV:Dollar broadly lower as sentiment mildly improves
Investing.com - The U.S. dollar was broadly lower against the other major currencies on Friday, as market sentiment slightly improved after the release of upbeat German business confidence data, although investors remained cautious after Thursday's disappointing economic reports.
During European morning trade, the dollar was lower against the euro, with EUR/USD adding 0.13% to 1.3205.
The euro strengthened after the Ifo Institute said its business climate index for Germany improved to 104.6 in February from a reading of 100.6 the previous month, beating expectations for a rise to 101.3.
Sentiment on the single currency remained fragile however, after data on Thursday showed that the services purchasing managers’ index for the euro zone dropped from 48.6 to 47.3 in February, missing expectations for an increase to 49.2.
The euro zone manufacturing PMI fell to a seasonally adjusted 47.8 from a final reading of 47.9 in January. Analysts had expected the index to improve to 48.4.
The greenback was also lower against the pound, with GBP/USD edging up 0.09% to 1.5267.
Elsewhere, the greenback was higher against the yen, with USD/JPY adding 0.12% to trade at 93.22, and steady against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF inching 0.01% higher to 0.9313.
The greenback was higher against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand counterparts, with USD/CAD easing up 0.07% to 1.0193, AUD/USD advancing 0.59% to 1.0308 and NZD/USD rising 0.34% to 0.8367.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.09% to 81.42.
Trading volumes were expected to remain light on Friday, with no major economic data due to be published in the U.S.