U.S. dollar declines on downbeat data

The U.S. dollar decreased against most major currencies on Friday as economic data from the country came out below expectations.

The U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) for all urban consumers increased 0.2 percent in April on a seasonally adjusted basis, the Labor Department said Friday. Over the last 12 months, the all items index rose 2.2 percent before seasonal adjustment.

The index for all items less food and energy (core CPI) increased 0.1 percent in April and 1.9 percent over the past 12 months, missing market consensus of a 2-percent gain.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Department said advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for April 2017 came in at 474.9 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 0.4 percent from the previous month, below market expectation of a 0.6-percent gain.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was down 0.36 percent at 99.260 in late trading.

In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.0920 dollars from 1.0868 dollars, and the British pound fell to 1.2879 dollars from 1.2886 U.S. dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar increased to 0.7391 U.S. dollar from 0.7375 U.S. dollar.

The U.S. dollar bought 113.43 Japanese yen, lower than 113.93 yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar fell to 1.0021 Swiss francs from 1.0071 Swiss francs, and it edged up to 1.3713 Canadian dollars from 1.3690 Canadian dollars. Enditem