1st LD Writethru: U.S. dollar fluctuates against major currencies

The U.S. dollar traded mixed against other currencies Friday amid downbeat economic data.

The U.S. government announced that the country's economy grew sharply lower in the final quarter of 2014.

The U.S. real gross domestic product (GDP), the main gauge of its economy, expanded at an annual rate of 2.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2014, below market expectation, said the Commerce Department Friday.

The economy grew 5 percent in the third quarter and 4.6 percent in the second quarter after contracting in the first three months of the year. In the whole 2014, the economy expanded 2.4 percent, compared with an increase of 2.2 percent in 2013.

The department said the decelerated GDP growth in the fourth quarter mainly reflected an upturn in imports, a downturn in federal government spending and decelerations in nonresidential fixed investment.

However, the consumer spending, accounting for more than two- third of U.S. economy activity, increased at a 4.3 percent pace in the fourth quarter, compared with 3.2 percent in the third quarter 2014.

In late New York trading, the euro lost to 1.1293 dollars from 1.1313 dollars of the previous session, and the British pound increased to 1.5057 dollars from 1.5053 dollars. The Australian dollar went up to 0.7783 dollar from 0.7756 dollar. The dollar bought 117.51 Japanese yen, lower than 118.40 yen of the previous session. The greenback moved down to 0.9180 Swiss franc from 0.9246 Swiss franc, and moved up to 1.2687 Canadian dollars from 1.2619 Canadian dollars. Endite