US dollar expanded against peers on US business activity and consumer confidence data

US dollar gained sharply against its major peers, following the positive economic data from the United States.

USD/CAD advanced to a new session high at 1.0528 at 13:58 GMT. At 14:05 GMT it was trading at 1.0516. EUR/USD cross took a gradual slide from a session high at 1.3102 at 12:50 GMT to 1.3030 at 14:00 GMT. GBP/USD also slid to hit a session low at 1.5208 at 14:06 GMT. USD/JPY rose to a session high at 99.19 at 14:07. Last but not least, the dollar index, which tracks the performance of the US dollar against a basket of six other major currencies, advanced to 83.43 at 14:20 GMT, up by 0.28% for the day.

Earlier on Friday official report showed that Chicago PMI slowed down more than expected in June, falling down to 51.6 from a reading of 58.7 in May. That was the most significant weekly drop in the last four years, despite the fact some experts stated that Mays results were exceptionally strong. Preliminary estimates pointed an index value at 55.0. However, these last results were above the value of 50.0, which implied that business activity was still developing in a positive manner.

Additionally, the Final University of Michigan Confidence indicator increased to 84.1 in June, surpassing analysts estimates of a reading of 82.8, and higher than the initially announced value of 82.7. Data showed that US consumers saw more optimistic prospects for the economy of the United States in comparison with the previous survey results.