1st LD Writethru: U.S. dollar slips on soft data

The U.S. dollar fell against most major currencies Friday as economic data from the country came out negative, dampening market sentiment for an interest-rate hike as early as September.

U.S. consumer sentiment softened in July. The Thomson Reuters/ University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index fell from 96.1 in June to 93.1 this month, well below market consensus of 94.1.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Employment Cost Index registered the smallest quarterly gain in 33 years. The index, which is seen as the broadest measure of labor costs, rose just 0.2 percent in the second quarter, the Labor Department said Friday. The latest reading was below market consensus of a 0.6-percent gain.

Analysts said the weak data took some shine from the robust GDP report Wednesday and curbed expectations for the central bank to raise interest rates in this quarter.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major currencies, was down 0.34 percent to 97.227 in late trading.

In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.0981 dollars from 1.0921 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound climbed to 1.5618 dollars from 1.5600 dollars. The Australian dollar went up to 0.7304 U.S. dollar from 0.7286 dollar.

The U.S. dollar bought 123.93 Japanese yen, lower than 124.24 yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar inched down to 0.9663 Swiss francs from 0.9701 Swiss francs and increased to 1.3083 Canadian dollars from 1.2999 Canadian dollars. Endite