U.S. Dollar Extends Slide

The U.S. dollar weakened against the other major currencies in the Asian session on Friday, as the U.S. economic growth slowed more forecasts in the first quarter.

Data from the Commerce Department showed on Thursday that the U.S. gross domestic product rose by 0.5 percent in the first quarter compared to the 1.4 percent increase in the fourth quarter. Economists had expected the pace of growth to slow to 0.7 percent.

After reporting U.S. initial jobless claims at their lowest level in over forty years in the previous week, the Labor Department released a report on Thursday showing that jobless claims rebounded in the week ended April 23rd.

The report said initial jobless claims rose to 257,000, an increase of 9,000 from the previous week's revised level of 248,000. Economists had expected claims to climb to 260,000.

Thursday, the U.S. dollar fell 0.06 percent against the euro, 0.01 percent against the pound, 3.00 percent against the yen and 0.45 percent against the Swiss franc.

In the Asian trading, the U.S. dollar fell to a 1-1/2-year low of 107.08 against the yen and nearly a 3-month low of 1.4654 against the pound, from yesterday's closing quotes of 108.08 and 1.4603, respectively. If the greenback extends its downtrend, it is likely to find support around 106.00 against the yen and 1.47 against the pound.

The greenback dropped to an 8-day low of 1.1389 against the euro and a 9-day low of 0.9638 against the Swiss franc, from yesterday's closing quotes of 1.1348 and 0.9665, respectively. On the downside, 1.15 against the euro, 0.95 against the franc are seen as the next support levels for the greenback.

Against the Australian, the New Zealand and the Canadian dollars, the greenback edged down to 0.7653, 0.6988 and 1.2519 from yesterday's closing quotes of 0.7623, 0.6957 and 1.2554, respectively. The greenback is likely to find support around 0.78 against the aussie, 0.70 against the kiwi and 1.24 against the loonie.

Looking ahead, Swiss KOF leading indicator for April, BOE U.K. mortgage approvals for March, U.K. M4 money supply data for March, Eurozone core CPI data for April, preliminary eurozone GDP data for the first quarter and eurozone unemployment data for March are slated for release later in the day.

In the New York session, Canada GDP data for February, industrial product and raw materials price indexes for March, U.S. personal income and spending data for March, U.S. Chicago PMI for April and the University of Michigan's final U.S. consumer sentiment index for April are set to be published.