The dollar ended a winning week at its highest since early April versus the euro, after a closely watched survey showed U.S. consumer sentiment is on the rise.
The preliminary University of Michigan-Thomson Reuters consumer sentiment index climbed to a reading of 72.4 from a reading of 69.8 in April.
Still, consumers are not as confident as they were before gas prices spiked in February and March.
Meanwhile, concerns about Greece’s sovereign debt problems continued to put a dent in the euro.
The buck rose to $1.4065 against the euro, compared to an early low of $1.4340. Earlier in May, the dollar hit a 17-month low near $1.50.
There was little reaction to the first major U.S. economic data of the day.
U.S. consumer prices rose 0.4 percent as expected in April on higher food and energy prices, but a relatively small uptick in inflation is unlikely to worry officials at the Federal Reserve.
The buck was steady at $1.6190 versus the sterling, and just below Y81 versus the yen.
In economic news from around the globe, the Eurozone economy expanded 0.8 percent in the first quarter from the fourth quarter of 2010, flash estimates from the Eurostat showed Friday.
The growth rate accelerated from the 0.3 percent increase seen in the fourth quarter and also exceeded the expected 0.6 percent growth.
German GDP grew by a seasonally and calendar adjusted 1.5 percent quarter-over-quarter during the first three months of 2011.
Elsewhere, the French economy expanded 1 percent sequentially in the first quarter, following the 0.3 percent expansion seen in the fourth quarter of 2010.