The U.S. dollar was slightly down Friday against the euro, which fell to break the US$1.28 mark before regaining strength as investors awaited the release of U.S. economic data focusing on industrial production.
The euro bought as little as US$1.2778 before recovering to buy US$1.2834 in morning European trading, compared with US$1.2827 in New York late Thursday. The British pound bought US$1.8818, down from US$1.8939.
The dollar was up against the Japanese yen, buying 108.16 yen, from 107.37 late Thursday.
In Washington, U.S. Treasury capital flow figures for February and March industrial production were set to be released.
The capital flow numbers are an indicator for whether U.S. asset markets are attracting enough foreign interest to cover the U.S. trade deficit. Concerns about the massive U.S. trade deficit have pressured the dollar downward in recent years.
But this weekend's meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank as well as the Group Of Seven industrialized nations aren't expected to have much of an impact on foreign exchange rates.
On Thursday, it was report that the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell by 10,000 last week, the second straight week of improvement. The Labor Department reported 330,000 new filings for jobless benefits last week compared with 340,000 in the previous week, when the number of new claims had fallen by 12,000.