NEW YORK, April 12: The dollar got a modest lift on Friday from a positive set of figures on the US economy in a market still cautious about the near-term outlook with the Iraq war drawing to a close.

The euro eased back to $1.0752 from 1.0785 late Thursday in New York.

The dollar rose to 120.40 yen from 119.62 on Thursday.

The greenback slipped off earlier highs on profit-taking, after a batch of strong US data.

The dollar spiked higher in initial response to better-than-expected US retail sales figures for March.

Retail sales leaped 2.1 per cent in March from the previous month, beating forecasts for a 0.8-per cent rise.

However, Michael Woolfolk, head of North American research at Bank of New York said “there is no real bias to the currency market right now” and that the dollar, while displaying some pockets of strength, remains highly volatile.

The dollar got little follow-through after University of Michigan consumer sentiment index rose to 83.2 points in the first reading for April from 77.6 in March. This was much higher than the rise to 78.4 predicted by economists.

Any victory rally for the dollar in the wake of successes for US-led troops in Iraq was muted by concerns about ongoing chaos in the country.

Analyst Derek Halpenny from the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi said: “The suicide bombing in Baghdad and the murder of a Shiite cleric in Najaf ... underlined the ongoing uncertainties that are likely to temper the rebound in consumer confidence.

The dollar was being quoted in late trade at 1.3922 Swiss francs from 1.3835 Thursday.

Sterling was at $1.5710 from 1.5723 late Thursday. —AFP