Dollar rises on Portugal worry, upbeat data

The U.S. dollar rose against major currencies in late New York trading on Friday as Portugal's credit rating was downgraded and U.S. economic growth was quicker than estimated in the fourth quarter of 2010.


The rating agency Standard & Poor's cut Portugal's long-term sovereign credit rating to BBB from A- on Friday, following the country's parliament voted down the austerity plan which aimed to improve its fiscal situation earlier this week.


The euro slipped to below 1.41 against the dollar in late trading session on Friday, however, the pair managed to hold the 1. 40 level as European Union leader summit, which was wished to reach an agreement on long-term mechanism of dealing with debt crisis, still provided some support to the shared currency.


Meanwhile, the U.S. real gross domestic product for the fourth quarter of 2010 was revised to 3.1 percent annualized growth from an earlier estimate of 2.8 percent on Friday, showing that the U.S. economy kept on recovering.


In late Friday trading, the dollar bought 81.41 Japanese yen, comparing with 80.95 late Thursday, and the euro fell to 1.4073 dollars from 1.4183.


The British pound also fell to 1.6019 dollars from 1.6111. The dollar rose from 0.9073 to 0.9195 against Swiss francs, and also rose to 0.9812 Canadian dollars from 0.9765.
(Source:http://news.xinhuanet.com)