The US dollar eased during European session on Friday, trimming recent gains but remained within the perimeter of fresh 14-year high. Pullback was modest, as fresh strength at the beginning of US session pared part of losses. The dollar remains strongly supported on expectations of US rate hike that was boosted by yesterday’s comments from Fed Chair Janet Yellen and optimism over the strength of the US economy.
The dollar index dipped to 100.88, where pullback from fresh high at 101.43 found footstep and returned back above 101.00 handle. However, end of week profit taking may push the greenback lower.
The Euro was near fresh lows in early Europe, coming under pressure on remarks from ECB President Mario Draghi who said that the central bank will continue to act as warranted using all instruments available, adding that Eurozone’s economic recovery still relies to a considerable degree on accommodative monetary policy.

Euro/dollar bounced to 1.0640 in Europe, but recovery attempts from fresh 2016 low were limited, as the pair remains under strong pressure and approaches critical supports at 1.0500 zone.

British pound was among top losers of European session, falling 0.59% and taking out key near-term supports on acceleration to fresh two-week low at 1.2308, where the price met strong technical support and next target. Cable is on track for strong weekly close in red after making significant recovery during two previous weeks.

Dollar/yen edged lower and fell 1% from fresh high at 110.91 to session low at 109.88, but was still positive and up 0.12% from opening. The pair is on track for the second strong weekly gain, being up over 3% for the week until now.

Australian dollar returned near daily low at 0.7363, following brief recovery attempt that was capped at 0.7400 zone, being so far down 0.49%.

Gold bounced from session low at $1202, supported by lower dollar. Recovery attempts were so far capped at $1216 and yellow metal is still in red, down 0.41% at the time of writing.

US crude oil was up on Friday and pared a part of losses of past two days, boosted by weaker dollar. The oil price was up 1.27% from Friday’s opening and is on track for strong bullish weekly close, after being in red for past three weeks.

European stocks were in red on Friday. Britain’s FTSE 100 index was down 0.62%; German DAX was 0.32% down at the time of writing after paring some losses of the day, as index was at one moment down 0.78%. French CAC40 index was also in red on Friday and down 0.68%.

Wall Street was little changed on opening on Friday, with all three major indexes holding near record highs, maintaining strong bullish sentiment after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen sent a strong signal that interest rates would be increased next month.

Three major US indexes were marginally up after Friday’s opening bell. Dow Jones ticked 0.02% higher; Nasdaq was up 0.13%, while S&P 500 ticked higher by 0.04%., Market Analysis