LONDON (SHARECAST) - The dollar surrendered some gains on Friday as traders mulled a mixed bag of economic data and President Obama's reform proposals to limit banks' trading activities. US jobless claims surged to 482,000 in the week ended 16 January from the previous week's revised total of 446,000 despite forecasts of a decline. The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia's manufacturing index showed a bigger than predicted decline. Nerves about President Obama’s banking reform plans weighed on the US currency. The dollar had started the session on strong footing, as investors turned to the dollar’s safe haven qualities, as US equity markets took a pounding. The dollar index fell to 78.288 from Thursday’s 78.323. Meanwhile the euro managed to shrug off the previous session’s sharp losses caused by concern about the impact of Greek debt and Chinese moves to curb growth. The euro rose to $1.4139 after slumping close to a six month low against the dollar on Thursday. The greenback fell to 89.97 yen from 90.50 yen the previous session. Sterling lost some of its recent allure after December retail sales figures disappointed. The figure came in 0.3%, confounding expectations of a 1.1% gain. It also prompted concern that upcoming Q4 GDP may be weaker than forecast.

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