NEW YORK: The euro fell on Friday as an August batch of business surveys pointed to a stuttering economic recovery, while the US dollar climbed, headed for its first weekly rise since mid-June.
Flash euro zone manufacturing and services purchasing managers index (PMI) numbers for August reported Friday were worse than expected. IHS Markit's flash Composite Purchasing Managers' Index, seen as a good gauge of economic health, sank to 51.6 from July's final reading of 54.9.
The single currency dropped to a one-week low of $1.175 earlier Friday and was last trading down 0.67% at $1.178. The euro, which surged from under $1.12 in early July to a more than-two-year high of $1.197 earlier this week, has been the biggest beneficiary from a dollar whacked recently by concerns about the US economic recovery.
With its Friday rebound the dollar was on course to escape a ninth consecutive weekly decline. Should the greenback end the week down, that would mark the longest losing streak since the summer of 2010 and a run that has only happened five times since 1990.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of rivals, was last at 93.345, up 0.71%. Elsewhere, the Canadian dollar was little moved on Friday despite a record increase in retail sales in June.
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