LONDON, Aug 16: The dollar slipped in late trades on Friday following indications of a softer US housing market and shaky consumer confidence.

The single European currency rose to 0.9824 dollars from 0.9817 late on Thursday in New York.

The dollar traded for 117.66 yen from 117.32 on Thursday.

The dollar fluctuated in afternoon trades owing to the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index. The university’s key index of confidence, compiled from responses to the survey of US consumers, eased 0.2 points from the previous month to 87.9 in early August.

But Rob Hayward, currency strategist at ABN Amro, said the index would have had to have come in a lot worse to really push the euro higher.

And Kamal Sharma, currency strategist at Commerzbank, said there was relief in the market that the index was not much worse, but he noted that it was the still the worst Michigan result since November last year.

“It reiterates the view that the pressure is on the household balance and ultimately on consumer spending,” he said.

The dollar was also affected by data on US housing starts, which showed projects slumped 2.7 percent to an annual rate of 1.649 million homes in July from the previous month.

The seasonally adjusted fall, steeper than Wall Street economists’ forecasts for a drop of 0.5 percent, followed a matching 2.7 percent decline in June.

Sharma said the most interesting story next week will probably relate to the dollar/yen rate and that close attention should be paid to Japan’s Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Japan as they try to move the yen back up to 120 to the dollar.

The euro was changing hands at 0.9824 dollars against 0.9817 on Thursday, 115.58 yen (115.20), 0.6397 pounds (0.6391) and 1.4671 Swiss francs (1.4630).

The dollar was being quoted at 117.66 yen (117.32) and 1.4935 Swiss francs (1.4899). The pound was at 1.5357 dollars (1.5354), 180.68 yen (180.19) and 2.2935 Swiss francs (2.2881).—AFP