NEW YORK, Aug 23: The dollar resumed its rally on Friday after Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke appeared to signal steady interest rates ahead in the United States despite economic headwinds.

The greenback also was boosted by weak eurozone industrial orders data and a strong performance for Wall Street on hopes struggling US investment house Lehman Brothers would find a savior.

The US unit rose to 110.01 yen from 108.46.

The dollar had fallen Thursday on worries about problems in the US financial sector and the sluggish state of the world’s largest economy.

On Friday, however, Lehman Brothers shares jumped, taking other financials with them, on reports that the Korea Development Bank might buy the group.

Meanwhile Eurostat data showed factory orders in the 15 nations sharing the euro saw orders fall by 0.3 per cent in June, heightening fears about economic trouble in Europe.

Elsewhere on Friday, the pound dropped close to two-year lows against the dollar on news that Britain’s economy had stalled at zero growth in the second quarter, leaving the country on the brink of recession.

The reading of zero gross domestic product (GDP) growth, revised down from an initial reading of 0.2 per cent, was the weakest quarterly rate since the second quarter of 1992, said the Office for National Statistics.

Economists said the news left Britain on the verge of a technical recession — defined as two or more quarters of negative economic growth.

In late New York trade, the dollar stood at 1.0968 Swiss francs after 1.0862 Thursday

The pound was at $1.8519 from 1.8781.—AFP