The dollar was on track on Friday for a weekly gain of over 1 percent against a basket of currencies after a chorus of U.S. Federal Reserve officials signaled more interest rate increases than the market had been pricing in. The latest was St. Louis Fed President James Bullard, who said on Thursday that another U.S. interest rate hike "may not be far off" and noted labor market improvement. This week's hawkish remarks followed the central bank's March meeting last week, in which the Fed halved its rate hike expectations to two from four for this year.
Trading globally was likely to be thin, with many key markets, including Australia, the UK and the United States, closed to observe Good Friday. Some will be closed Monday as well after Sunday's Easter holiday.
Data earlier on Friday showed that Japan's consumer inflation was flat in the year to February as low energy costs and weak consumption put a lid on price growth, keeping pressure on the Bank of Japan to add more stimulus even after easing policy less than two months ago.
The attacks added to pressure on sterling and sent it to its weakest trade-weighted basis in two years on fears that British voters would decide at a poll in June to leave the European Union.
EUR/USD: during the Asian session the pair fell to $1.1155
GBP/USD: during the Asian session the pair fell to $1.4105
USD/JPY: during the Asian session the pair rose to Y113.30
Based on Reuters materials