Forexpros – The dollar was weaker to mixed against most of the world’s major currencies on Friday, the last day of trading for 2011, as no steering current in particular gathered enough strength to push exchange rates in one particular direction.
The greenback on Friday was up against the euro, with EUR/USD shedding 0.15% to hit 1.2942.
In Europe, the debt crisis showed no signs of relenting, with Italian yields spiking past 7 percent, which investors found disconcerting when considering the country will seek to raise as much as EUR450 billion in 2012, according to Reuters data.
In the U.S., initial jobless claims came in this week higher than expected at 381,000 compared to expectations for 370,000, while crude inventories rose by 3.9 million barrels, far outpacing an expected drop of 2.5 million barrels.
Both indicators paint a picture of an economy still trying to pick up the pace of its recovery.
Meanwhile, the dollar was weaker against the pound, with Cable rising 0.75% to hit 1.5533.
The greenback was down 0.86% against the yen, with USD/JPY was trading at 76.96, and down against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF down 0.20% at 0.9383.
The greenback was down against its counterparts in Canada, Australia and New Zealand, with USD/CAD down 0.18% at 1.0182, AUD/USD up 0.93% to 1.0231 and NZD/USD up 0.93% at 0.7784.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.23% at 80.62.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will meet on Jan. 9 to discuss ways to contain and hopefully end the crisis.
Market watchers will keep an eye on that meeting as well as on talk from ratings agencies, who have threatened to downgrade a large swathe of Europe.
Talk of them making good on those threats will draw swift market reaction.
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