Dollar falls against major currencies

The U.S. dollar retreated against major currencies for a second day on Friday on expectations that the Federal Reserve will keep its monetary policy loose. The dollar once fell to a four-week low against the yen and five-week low against the euro as investors generally speculate that the Fed would not change its monetary stimulus measures at next week's policy meeting. However, analysts believe the dollar's losses will be limited while investors awaited for a series of economic data due to be released next week, including non-farm payroll for July and the Institute for Supply Management indexes for the manufacturing and service sectors. Moreover, the greenback may also stay firm if the Fed gives signals that it may taper the bond-purchasing program as early as September. Economic data came in favorable for the dollar on Friday. The U. S. consumer sentiment index for July rose to 85.1, the highest level in six years, according to the final reading of a joint report released by Thomson Reuters and University of Michigan on Friday. In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.3257 dollars from 1.3243 dollars of the previous session and the British pound increased to 1.5382 dollars from 1.5360 dollars. The Australian dollar climbed to 0.9296 dollars from 0.9214 dollars. The dollar bought 98.19 Japanese yen, lower than 99.57 yen of the previous session. It edged down to 0.9260 Swiss francs from 0. 9319 Swiss francs and moved down to 1.0284 Canadian dollars from 1. 0286 Canadian dollars.