1st LD Writethru: U.S. dollar falls against euro on weak data

The U.S. dollar dropped against the euro to a three-month low on Friday amid another batch of lackluster economic data from the country that raised expectation the Federal Reserve will hold its rate hike decision for a longer time.

U.S. industrial production decreased 0.3 percent in April for its fifth consecutive monthly loss, missing market expectations, the Federal Reserve said Friday.

Meanwhile, U.S. consumer sentiment fell to a preliminary May reading of 88.6, the lowest level since November, compared with a final April level of 95.9, according to reports on the University of Michigan gauge released Friday.

The impact of the data was most keenly felt by the dollar.

The greenback slipped to a three-month low of 1.1466 euros after the release of soft data. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six other currencies, was down 0.19 at 93. 283 in late trading.

In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.1461 dollars from 1.1399 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound declined to 1.5770 dollars from 1.5744 dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar went down to 0.8047 dollars from 0. 8069 dollars.

The U.S. dollar bought 119.29 Japanese yen, higher than 119.22 yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar climbed to 0.9144 Swiss francs from 0.9129 Swiss francs, and it increased to 1.2009 Canadian dollars from 1.1994 Canadian dollars. Endite