Dollar pares early gains and holds

The US dollar held steadily against most of its major counterparts Friday, following the US consumer confidence data.

The greenback was lifted thanks to expectations that the US inflation rate would continue to rise in the coming months, before slowing down.

Data showed that the US retail sales index rose 0.6% in June, beating forecasts of a drop by 0.4%.

The core retail sales index (excluding fuel and food prices) rose 1.3% in June, beating forecasts of 0.4%.

University of Michigan's consumer confidence survey fell to 80.8 points in June from 85.5 points, while analysts forecast 86.5.

The markets are closely focused on the quarterly earnings results season, after several major banks announced their results this week, and the US tech companies will announce their results the next few days.

The dollar index rose against a basket of major currencies by less than 0.1% to 92.6 points as of 17:50 GMT, after hitting a high of 92.7 points and a low of 92.5 points.