Dollar dips amid Fed speculations

The U.S. dollar retreated against major currencies Friday as investors kept cautious ahead of the Federal Reserve's policy meeting next week. Investors are paying great attention to the Fed's monetary policy meeting scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday as analysts speculated the Fed may decide to scale back its asset-buying program during the meeting. U.S. economic data released on Friday were mixed. U.S. retail and food services sales for August edged up 0.2 percent to 426.6 billion U.S. dollars from the previous month, the Commerce Department said. Economists had generally expected a gain of 0.4 percent. Meanwhile, the U.S. Producer Price Index for finished goods rose 0.3 percent in August on a seasonally adjusted basis, the Labor Department said. However, the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary index of consumer sentiment for September dropped to 76.8 from 82. 1 last month. The figure was below market expectations and hit the lowest level since April. In late New York trading, the euro climbed to 1.3307 dollars from 1.3303 dollars of the previous session, and the British pound jumped to 1.5879 dollars from 1.5812 dollars. The Australian dollar declined to 0.9251 dollar from 0.9267 dollar. The dollar bought 99.28 Japanese yen, lower than 99.44 yen of the previous session. The dollar moved down to 0.9290 Swiss franc from 0.9303, and it went up to 1.0339 Canadian dollars from 1.0323.