LONDON, Dec 9: The dollar slipped against the euro late Friday amid a growing belief that US rate setters will tone down the rhetoric at next week’s interest rate decision, signalling that the rate hiking cycle may be nearing an end.

The euro rose to 1.1820 dollars in late European trading, from 1.1818 dollars late on Thursday in New York.

The dollar rose to 120.56 yen from 120.33 yen on Thursday.

Gold prices meanwhile hit the highest level for 24-and-a-half years, striking 530.75 dollars per ounce in London — the best level since April 1981.

The precious metal has been reaching new fresh high points for many years in the past fortnight on strong buying by investment funds, looking for havens amid firming US inflation.

On the US rate front, the US Federal Reserve is widely expected to lift its benchmark rate by another quarter point to 4.25 per cent on Tuesday. The market’s focus, however, will be on the accompanying statement and whether the Fed will continue to say that it plans to remove accommodative monetary policy at a ‘measured’ pace.

In late trade, the euro was changing hands at 1.1820 dollars against 1.1818 late Thursday in New York, 142.53 yen (142.18), 0.6735 pounds (0.6740) and 1.5399 Swiss francs (1.5363).—AFP