NEW YORK, Nov. 17 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. dollar lost in late trading on Friday, despite a Federal Reserve official's hawkish commentary and a strong building permits report.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, decreased 0.41 percent to 103.9219 in late trading, to close a 1.60 percent losing week.
Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President Susan Collins said Friday while evidence is growing that inflation is easing, she's not yet ready to rule out more rate hikes should they be needed.
"In order to get back down to 2 percent (inflation) in a reasonable amount of time, you need to be patient and resolute, and I wouldn't take additional firming off the table," she said.
However, her hawkish commentary failed to drive the U.S. dollar up. As the U.S. economy displayed signs of inflationary pressures and the labor market cooling down, markets seemed to be cheering that the Fed is done with hiking, and some are already eyeing the possibility of Fed rate cuts next year.
Housing starts for October grew 1.9 percent to 1.372 million annualized units, hitting the highest print in three months, and building permits were actually much stronger in October, reaching 1.487 million, adding 1.1 percent month over month, the Commerce Department's Census Bureau said Friday.
In the eurozone, according to a second estimate released by Eurostat in Luxembourg on Friday, the annual inflation rate fell to 2.9 percent from 4.3 percent in September, reaching its lowest level in more than two years.
In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.0899 U.S. dollars from 1.0856 U.S. dollars in the previous session, and the British pound edged up to 1.2449 U.S. dollars from 1.2416 U.S. dollars.
The U.S. dollar bought 149.6650 Japanese yen, lower than 150.5960 Japanese yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar dipped to 0.8856 Swiss francs from 0.8885 Swiss francs, and it decreased to 1.3717 Canadian dollars from 1.3762 Canadian dollars. The U.S. dollar shed to 10.5313 Swedish krona from 10.5805 Swedish krona.
