That was just below a five-week high of 102.75 touched earlier in the session. Analysts have said many factors could be behind the dollar's recent strength, including concerns about U.S. inflation, and fears about the debt ceiling standoff and global economic growth driving safe-haven buying.
"Yesterday was a big 'risk-off', so typically the dollar stands to benefit as a safe-haven asset," said Alvin Tan, head of Asia FX strategy at RBC Capital Markets. "In the short term we have a situation in which the market wants to sell dollars, not withstanding yesterday's price action, but as we get into the new year we think that could reverse on account of the global growth slowdown." Against Japan's yen, the greenback was down 0.49% on Friday to 137.08.
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