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 The euro was lifted higher by a spate of sour economic reports from the United States, including a report that showed U.S. orders for durable goods dropped 1.7 percent in September, after an even bigger 5.3 percent plunge in August.
That was the first back-to-back decline in more than a year and took economists by surprise.
The data exacerbated concern about the health of the U.S. economy and has caused investors to sell their dollars in a climate of market nervousness ahead of next week's U.S. Federal Reserve Bank meeting on interest rates.
"Yesterday's run of downbeat economic data out of the U.S. is underlining the fact that the Fed's last rate cut of 50 basis points clearly hasn't been sufficient to kick start demand," said James Hughes, a market analyst with CMC Markets in London.
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 He said traders and markets are expecting the bank to cut its benchmark rate from 4.75 percent next week. That, in turn, has caused the dollar to lose value because of speculation that the European Central Bank will increase its interest rates.
Although lower interest rates can jump-start the economy, they can weaken a currency as investors transfer funds to countries where their deposits and fixed-income investments bring higher returns. Higher rates can boost a currency.
In other trading, the British pound bought $2.0564, up slightly from the $2.0511 it bought on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the dollar was up against the yen, rising to 114.31 yen on Friday compared with 144.06 yen on Thursday.
[Associated Press]
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