LONDON, Feb 8: The dollar remained steady against major currencies on Friday despite a weak set of US wholesale inventory data and as dealers awaited a weekend meeting of top finance officials from rich nations.

The euro was worth $1.4503 in late European trade from $1.4479 in New York late Thursday.

Against the Japanese currency, the dollar climbed to 107.43 yen from 107.48 late Thursday.

US data released on Friday provided further indication that activity in the world’s largest economy is slowing, showing dropping sales and rising inventories at wholesalers in December.

The Commerce Department reported that wholesale inventories rose 1.1 per cent for the month, while sales dropped 0.7 per cent. The rise in inventories is the biggest one-month gain in 19 months and prompted warnings that it could lead to a downward revision to US growth figures.

“The bigger-than-expected gain in wholesale inventories could cut into fourth quarter GDP as demand leans toward the weaker side,” said analysts at Thomson IFR Markets.

But the dollar’s losses were limited with little other data and a relatively quiet day for equity markets meaning currency movements were limited.—AFP