The dollar held to gains against the yen and euro on Friday, awaiting U.S. data later in the day that could set the greenbacks tone.
The dollar was steady at 108.96 yen JPY= after gaining about 0.6 percent overnight.
The U.S. currency, which had hit an 18-month low of 105.55 yen last week after the Bank of Japan stood pat on monetary policy, was on track to rise 1.8 percent on the week. Verbal warnings by Japanese authorities over the past week have so far helped cool the yen's rally.
The euro stood little changed at $1.1375 EUR= after shedding 0.4 percent on Thursday.
The dollar has recovered 2.46 percent in value from May lows against a basket of other leading currencies .DXY, reversing an almost 8-percent fall earlier in the year.
Interest rates are too low for the current U.S. economy, Kansas City Fed President Esther George said Thursday.
She said she backs gradual rate hikes, adding that low rates can create economic risks. George votes on the U.S. Federal Reserve's policymaking committee and was the only member to vote for a rate hike at its April and March meetings.
Her comments followed separate remarks Thursday from Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren and Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester, who also vote on the Fed's rate-setting committee. Rosengren said markets are underestimating the pace of potential hikes, while Mester added that uncertainty should not prevent the Fed from acting on policy changes.
The U.S. Federal Reserve will likely wait until September before raising interest rates again, stretching to nine months the time since its first hike in nearly a decade, as it waits for clear signs inflation is picking up, a Reuters poll found.
The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits rose last week to a more than one-year high, but economists blamed striking telecommunications workers for the surge and said the data did not signal a deterioration in the overall labor market.
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 20,000 to a seasonally adjusted 294,000 for the week ended May 7, the highest level since late February 2015, the Labor Department said. It was the third consecutive week of increases in first-time applications for jobless benefits.
Oil prices dipped in early trading on Friday as a stronger dollar weighed and Russia warned that a global crude supply overhang could last into next year.
A stronger dollar, in which oil is traded, makes fuel imports more expensive for countries using other currencies, potentially hitting demand.
International Brent crude futures LCOc1 were trading at $47.71 per barrel at 0025 GMT, down 37 cents from their last settlement.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were down 41 cents at $46.29 a barrel.
U.S. crude oil production C-OUT-T-EIA has fallen 4.7 percent from 2016 peaks in January to 8.8 million barrels per day (bpd), according to U.S. Energy Information data, and output is down 8.4 percent from its 2015 peak.
Reference: Reuters, CNBC
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