2019.05.3117:00:00UTC+00Dollar Stays Weak

The U.S. dollar exhibited weakness against the yen and the euro, but gained modest ground against British sterling on Friday, with traders weighing the impact of U.S. President Donald Trump's to impose tariffs on Mexican imports.

With global stocks plunging on fears of a recession, the safe haven assets gold and the Japanese yen hogged the limelight today.

The dollar index dropped to a low of 97.72 and was last seen hovering around 97.80, down 0.36% from previous close.

Against the euro, the dollar was trading at $1.1170 a unit, down nearly 0.35% from previous close.

The pound sterling was up 0.2% against the dollar, with a unit of sterling fetching $1.2633, up from $1.2608.

UK consumer confidence improved in May despite Brexit related uncertainties, survey data from market research group GfK showed. The consumer sentiment index rose to -10 from -13 in April. The expected score was -12.

The Japanese yen reigned as the safe haven currency, trading at 108.34 a dollar, up 1.15% from pevious close.

Trump's threat to impose tariffs on Mexican imports and his warning that tariffs would gradually rise if Mexico does not make efforts to prevent illegal immigration of people into the U.S., raised fears of a global recession and prompted traders to seek the safe haven Japanese currency.

The move by Trump to impose tariffs on Mexican goods pushed the Mexican currency Peso down by more than 3%.

Against the aussie, the dollar was down 0.33% at 0.6935. The greenback shed more than 0.6% against Swiss franc, falling to 1.0013, but gained 0.13% against the loonie, with the USD-CAD pair trading at 1.3518.

In today's economic news from U.S., a report from the University of Michigan said the consumer sentiment index for May was downwardly revised to 100.0 from the preliminary reading of 120.4. The downward revision was much bigger than what was expected.

Although the index remains notably higher than the final April reading of 97.2, it has fallen short of expectations for a reading of 101.5.

Meanwhile, personal income in the U.S. rose by more than expected in the month of April, increasing by 0.5%, after inching up by 0.1% in March, according to a report released by the Commerce Department. Economists had expected personal income to rise by 0.3%.

The report also said personal spending increased by 0.3% in April after spiking by an upwardly revised 1.1% in March.