NEW YORK, Jan 26 ― The dollar edged higher against the euro today after data showed the US economy maintained a strong pace of growth in the fourth quarter, even as momentum appears to have slowed towards the end of the year.

Gross domestic product increased at a 2.9 per cent annualised rate last quarter, the Commerce Department said in its advance fourth-quarter GDP growth estimate. The economy grew at a 3.2 per cent pace in the third quarter. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast GDP rising at a 2.6 per cent rate.

A separate report from the Labour Department showed initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 6,000 to a seasonally adjusted 186,000 for the week ended January 21.

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“A somewhat mixed picture painted by the US data,” said Stuart Cole, head macro economist at Equiti Capital in London.

The data point to an economy that is continuing to show resilience in the face of the rapid monetary tightening so far delivered by the Fed, Cole said.

“But a big contributor to this growth story was inventories, a component that is almost certain to weaken as we go through 2023,” he said.

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“Thus, overall, a neutral picture I would say in terms of the impact the data will have on expectations of Fed policy going forward,” Cole said.

The euro was 0.28 per cent lower at US$1.0884 (RM4.62), but not far from the nine-month high of US$1.09295 touched on Monday.

Against the yen, the dollar was up 0.59 per cent at ¥130.345.

Attention now turns to next week's central bank meetings, including the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank.

Traders broadly expect the Fed to increase rates by 25 basis points (bps) next Wednesday, a step down from a 50 bps increase in December. Meanwhile, the ECB has all but committed to raising its key rate by half a percentage point next week.

Sterling was about flat on the day against the US dollar, on pace to log a narrow gain for the week, its third straight weekly rise, even as traders remained concerned about the task facing the Bank of England in controlling inflation without damaging an economy already in recession.

The Aussie touched a new 7-month high of US$0.71425 on growing expectations that more Reserve Bank of Australia interest rate hikes are due after data showed Australian inflation surged to a 33-year high last quarter.

The Canadian dollar edged higher against its US counterpart today, a day after the Bank of Canada raised interest rates as expected in a move that could mark the end of the central bank's aggressive tightening campaign.

Meanwhile, bitcoin was little changed on the day at US$22,995, continuing to tread water after having jumped by about a third in value since early January, following big losses following the high-profile collapse of the FTX crypto exchange. ― Reuters