Dollar broadly lower vs. rivals ahead of U.S. data

The U.S. dollar was broadly lower against the other major currencies on Friday, as investors awaited the release of upcoming U.S. consumer sentiment data amid ongoing uncertainty over the future of the Federal Reserve's stimulus program. 

During European morning trade, the dollar was steady against the euro, with EUR/USD adding 0.06% to 1.3286. 

The release of mixed U.S. data on initial jobless claims and durable goods orders on Thursday fuelled fresh uncertainty over whether the Fed will start to scale back its bond buying program later this year. 

The Labor Department said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits last week increased by 7,000 to a seasonally adjusted 343,000, compared to expectations for an increase of 6,000 to 340,000.

The Commerce Department said orders for long lasting manufactured goods rose by a seasonally adjusted 4.2% in June, compared to expectations for an increase of 1.3%, while vore durable goods orders, which exclude volatile transportation items, were flat in June, compared to expectations for a 0.5% increase. 

The greenback was almost unchanged against the pound, withGBP/USD easing up 0.04% to 1.5397. 

Elsewhere, the greenback was lower against the yen and the Swiss franc, with USD/JPY retreating 0.66% to trade at 98.63, and withUSD/CHF slipping 0.20% to 0.9281. 

In Japan, official data earlier showed that core consumer price inflation in Tokyo, which excludes fresh food, rose to an annualized rate of 0.4% in July, from a flat reading the previous month. Analysts had expected core consumer price inflation to rise to 0.3% this month. 

The greenback was lower against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand counterparts, with USD/CAD edging down 0.13% to 1.0265,AUD/USD climbing 0.49% to 0.9290 and NZD/USD adding 0.12% to 0.8091. 

The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.08% to 81.76. 

Later in the day, the U.S. was to produce revised data on consumer sentiment from the University of Michigan.