The US dollar exchange rate slightly changed around the seven-week high against other major currencies. Traders take profits after the recent rise in the USD price. The dollar is supported by the growing likelihood of an increase in the US interest rate this month.
EUR/USD rose 0.15% to 1.0522, moving away from the weekly low of the previous session at 1.0492.
Earlier, the dollar has already received significant support because of statements made by a number of Federal Reserve officials about the possibility of raising the interest rate in March.
The dollar also strengthened after the US Department of Labor reported that the number of initial applications for unemployment benefits in the US fell 19,000 for the week ended on February 25. The total weekly number of applications was 223,000 against 242,000 of the previous week. Analysts had expected an increase in the number of applications for unemployment for the previous week by 1,000 to 243,000.
Markets did not pay much attention to the report showing that the volume of retail sales in Germany in January fell 0.8% against the forecast of growth by 0.2%. In the previous month, this indicator fell 0.9%.
GBP/USD fell 0.32% to a minimum of six weeks at 1.2226 after Markit reported that last month the UK PMI fell to a five-month low of 53.3 versus the value 54.5 in January. Analysts had expected a February drop to 54.1.
USD/JPY fell 0.12% to 114.28, and USD/CHF remained stable at the position of 1.0127.
Australian and New Zealand dollars have fallen in price: AUD/USD has decreased by 0.21% to 0.7566, and the rate of NZD/USD has decreased by 0.52% to 0.7029.
USD/CAD rose 0.16% to 1.3412, which is the highest since January 4.
The US dollar index, which shows the purchasing power of the dollar against the trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, slightly changed at 102.10, close to the seven-week peak of Thursday at 102.27.