U.S. dollar falls on profit-taking

The U.S. dollar declined against most major peers on Friday after investors took profits from recent gains.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, had been up over 3 percent in the past two weeks, amid rising expectations for an interest rate-hike by year-end.

According to minutes from the latest Federal Reserve meeting released on Wednesday, U.S. real gross domestic product (GDP) expanded at a faster pace in the third quarter than in the first half of the year and that labor market conditions continued to strengthen in recent months.

"(FOMC) Members generally agreed that the case for an increase in the policy rate had continued to strengthen. However, members emphasized that the actual path of the federal funds rate would depend on the economic outlook as informed by incoming data," said the minutes.

On the economic front, the international trade deficit was 62.0 billion U.S. dollars in October, up 5.5 billion dollars from 56.5 billion dollars in September, the Commerce Department announced Friday.

The dollar index went down 0.26 percent to 101.440 in late trading on Friday, as investors took profits in the holiday-shortened session.

In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.0599 dollars from 1.0545 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound climbed to 1.2456 dollars from 1.2446 U.S. dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar inched up to 0.7434 dollar from 0.7384 dollar.

The U.S. dollar bought 112.92 Japanese yen, higher than 112.58 yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar fell to 1.0141 Swiss franc from 1.0172 Swiss franc, and it climbed to 1.3526 Canadian dollars from 1.3488 Canadian dollars. Endit