Dollar declines amid Trump comments

The US dollar went down on Friday amid President Donald Trump's criticism about the Federal Reserve's current monetary tightening.

Trump told CNBC on Thursday that he was "not thrilled" that the US central bank is raising interest rates as the economy improves, Xinhua reported.

He repeated his viewpoints on Friday in his tweet that the Fed is undoing the economic progress the country has seen during his presidency.

Meanwhile, latest remarks from the Fed Chair Jerome Powell had hinted that the Fed would continue to raise interest rates later this year.

Powell said on Wednesday that the US economy is on the cusp of "several years" in which the job market remains strong and inflation stays around the Fed's 2 per cent target.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was down 0.70 per cent at 94.441 in late trading on Friday.

In late New York trading, the euro was up to $1.1725 from $1.1644 in the previous session, and the British pound increased to $1.3135 from $1.3015 in the previous session. The Australian dollar climbed to $0.7425 from $0.7358.

The US dollar bought 111.55 Japanese yen, lower than 112.47 Japanese yen of the previous session. The US dollar lost to 0.9926 Swiss franc from 0.9990 Swiss franc, and it went down to 1.3127 Canadian dollars from 1.3252 Canadian dollars.

--IANS

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