US dollar ends higher on improved consumer sentiment  

The US dollar inched up in late trading on Friday as US consumers' sentiment in February improved while the gross domestic product (GDP) in euro zone grew slower in the final quarter of 2019.

In late New York trading, the euro decreased to $1.0839 from $1.0842 in the previous session, and the British pound decreased to $1.3032 from $1.3053 in the previous session. The Australian dollar fell to $0.6710 from $0.6724, Xinhua reported.

The US dollar bought 109.76 Japanese yen, lower than 109.82 Japanese yen of the previous session. The US dollar was up to 0.9818 Swiss franc from 0.9792 Swiss franc, and it was down to 1.3252 Canadian dollars from 1.3260 Canadian dollars.

Data released by the University of Michigan on Friday show upbeat consumer sentiment this month. The consumer sentiment index for February was at 100.9, beating market expectation and higher than the reading in January.

In the European Union (EU), the GDP of euro zone inched up 0.1 percent in the last quarter of 2019, slower than the 0.3 per cent growth in the previous quarter due to contractions in France and Italy, according to the EU's statistics office Eurostat on Friday.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, increased 0.05 per cent at 99.1248 in late trading.
-IANS