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Euro edges higher against dollar

FRANKFURT, Germany - The euro continued a slow but steady rise against the dollar on Friday, with disappointment over a pair of US economic reports curtailing the dollar.

The 15-nation euro edged higher to US$1.4890 in morning European trading compared with US$1.4877 in late New York trading the night before and US$1.4741 Wednesday.

The dollar was hampered after a report Thursday showed the US economy's health had its biggest drop in a year, while new jobless claims fell for the second straight week, though they remained near the highest levels since 2002.

The New York-based Conference Board said Thursday its monthly forecast of future economic activity fell 0.7 percent in July, far more than the consensus estimate of a 0.2 percent decline by Wall Street economists surveyed by Thomson/IFR.

Meanwhile, the US Labor Department's jobless claims data showed new filings dropped to 432,000, down by 13,000 from the previous week, a greater improvement than analysts expected.

‘Yesterday's disappointing leading economic indicator data out of the US served up the latest blow to the dollar, once again helping erode the greenback's recent rise against major currencies,’ said James Hughes, a currency analyst with CMC Markets. ‘The euro has now recovered around 2 percent on the dollar since the midweek lows.’

The British pound climbed slightly higher to US$1.8758 on Friday compared with US$1.8751 the night before, while the dollar bought 108.95 Japanese yen on Friday compared with 108.65 yen in late trading in New York on Thursday.