The US dollar lost ground on Friday on news of a drop in US consumer confidence as traders squared positions ahead of a G7 finance chiefs meeting late in the day.
The euro rose to US$1.5805 at 9pm GMT after US$1.5742 late on Thursday in New York.
The dollar was meanwhile trading at ¥100.93, down from ¥101.88 on Thursday.
A worse-than-expected survey into US consumer confidence stoked concern about the health of the US economy.
Consumer confidence, as measured by the University of Michigan index, fell to 63.2 early this month from a reading of 69.5 late last month, its lowest level since March 1982.
“Equity markets are probably right to expect the United States to recover in the second half of the year, but this faith is not shared by the very people who will have to do the spending to lift the economy out of recession,” economist Julian Jessop of Capital Economics said.
Investors and traders were meanwhile awaiting the outcome of talks in Washington late on Friday between finance ministers and central bankers from the G7, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US.
Analysts said that with the focus likely to be on improving liquidity conditions to help ease a global credit squeeze, currency issues would probably take a back seat.
Neil Mellor at Bank of New York Mellon said trading was cautious ahead of the G7 communique.
“When the G7 does deliver, the impact can be significant,” he said. “The prospect of some surprise or other should not be discounted.”
In late New York trading, the US dollar stood at 1.0008 Swiss francs after SF1.0078 on Thursday.
The pound was at US$1.9690 from US$1.9708.
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