• Commodity currencies got off to a shaky start on Friday, having tracked oil prices lower, after a meeting of OPEC countries disappointed some investors who had hoped for larger production cuts.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, last traded at 97.307 .DXY.
On Monday, the dollar index had touched a low of 96.797, its lowest level since Nov. 9. For the week, the dollar index was clinging to a gain of about 0.2 percent.
Against the yen, the dollar eased 0.1 percent to 111.74 yen JPY=, staying below a one-week high of 112.13yen touched on Wednesday.
The euro eased 0.1 percent to $1.1199 EUR=, having backed away from a 6-1/2 month high of $1.1268 set this week.
• Sterling slipped after an opinion poll showed that Britain's opposition Labor Party has cut the lead of Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservatives to five points ahead of a June 8 national election.
The pound fell 0.3 percent to $1.2908 GBP=D3. That added to the 0.3 percent loss on Thursday, after data showed Britain's economy slowed more than previously thought in the first quarter of the year.
• The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits rose slightly last week and the four-week moving average of claims hit a 44-year low, suggesting a further tightening of the labor market that could encourage the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates next month.
• The economy's brightening prospects were, however, dimmed somewhat by other data on Thursday showing the goods trade deficit widening in April and inventories decreasing, prompting analysts to pare their second-quarter GDP growth estimates.
• San Francisco Federal Reserve President John Williams said he is spending more time thinking about how fiscal policies under U.S. President Donald Trump could impact the economy, and so far he sees small short-term gains and little for the longer term.
The best way to sustain the economy's momentum, he said, is to slow the economy a bit by gradually raising rates.
But because inflation remains below the Fed's 2-percent target, and has softened lately, there is no pressure to do more than the two further rate hikes this year that he and most other Fed officials expect, Williams said.
• Oil prices tumbled 5 percent on Thursday as the extension of output curbs by OPEC and other producing countries disappointed investors who had hoped for larger cuts, leading to the biggest daily percentage slide in crude prices since early March.
Brent crude oil LCOc1 settled down $2.50, or 4.6 percent at $51.46 a barrel. U.S. West Texas intermediate crude futures CLc1 ended at $2.46 lower, or 4.8 percent, at $48.90 a barrel, breaking below $50 for the first time all week.
• At Thursday's meeting in Vienna, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and some non-OPEC producers agreed to extend cuts in oil output by nine months to March 2018 and steady cuts of 1.8million barrels per day (bpd) until the end of the first quarter of 2018.
Reference: Reuters
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