The US dollar remained on the back foot going into the weekend after data showed on Friday that the US economy had grown by much less than expected in the second quarter.
The euro rose to US$1.2759 around 2100 GMT, from US$1.2698 late on Thursday in New York.
The dollar dipped to ?114.63, from ?115.77.
US Commerce Department figures showed that annualized growth was just 2.5 percent in the three months to last month, less than half the 5.6 percent in the first quarter and well below forecasts for a more modest dip to 3.0 percent.
The weak numbers fueled talk that the Federal Reserve could call off a long-running campaign of interest rate increases on Aug. 8, which would diminish the US dollar's appeal against other major currencies.
"There is no question that market sentiment is dollar-negative going into the weekend," said Michael Woolfolk at the Bank of New York.
But other pundits said there is still a chance the Fed could opt for one more precautionary rate hike, given concerns over inflation.
Core personal consumption expenditures (PCE) data -- the Fed's preferred inflation measure -- rose to 2.9 percent in the second quarter, well above the central bank's comfort level of 1-2 percent.
Fed chairman Ben Bernanke, however, said last week he believed the slowdown in growth would cause inflation to moderate in the months ahead.
The yen remained strong on speculation that China could soon announce another revaluation of its currency.
The Japanese currency has garnered some support over the last day or two, despite some weak economic data, as the pressure on China from US lawmakers to revalue the yuan has intensified.
Meanwhile, the Australian dollar reached 10-week highs against its US counterpart to leave the greenback worth 1.3034 to the Aussie in late trade.
The Australian dollar has been gaining fast since strong inflation figures on Wednesday all but confirmed that the Reserve Bank of Australia will raise interest rates next week.
The pound was also close to seven-week highs against the dollar as market players looked ahead to next week's Bank of England interest rate decision.
Though the British central bank's Monetary Policy Committee is broadly expected to leave rates unchanged, there is a small chance that its members could opt for a hike given recent strong data.
At 2100 GMT, the pound bought US$1.8631 compared to US$1.8576 late on Thursday.
The US dollar was also changing hands at 1.2326 Swiss francs from 1.2385.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the