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Asian markets mostly retreated on Friday as investors took their cash off the table after the previous day's rally that was fuelled by the Federal Reserve's dovish interest rate outlook.
The dollar was slightly lower against the euro and yen, but analysts said they expect the currency to resume its advance as the Fed prepares for a rate hike while the Japanese and European central banks print more cash.
Providing support to the euro on Friday was news that Greece has agreed to give creditors a new list of reforms within days in order to secure bailout funds.
Tokyo dipped 0.17 per cent, Hong Kong lost 0.21 per cent and Seoul gave back 0.21 per cent, while Sydney was flat but Shanghai gained 0.17 per cent.
MALAYSIA share prices opened lower on Friday with the FTSE Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Composite Index down 7.13points to 1,802.
Volume was about 233 million lots worth RM68 million.
Losers outnumbered gainers 166 to 108.
April platinum PLJ5, +0.26% rose 30 cents to end at $1,115.20 an ounce.
June palladium PAM5, +0.90% tacked on $1.75, or 0.2%, to $788.70 an ounce.
Copper was the only major metal on Comex to gain for the week. May copper HGK5, +0.56% settled at $2.6635 a pound, up a half cent for the session to tally a gain of roughly 2.2% for the week.
The euro lost more than 3% of its value against the buck for the second straight week Friday, as the dollar’s eight-month rally resumed.
The euro EURUSD, -1.32% traded as low as $1.0465, its weakest level since January 2003.
The pound GBPUSD, -0.94% traded as low as $1.4700, its lowest level since June 2010, before both currencies staged a slight recovery.
The euro traded at $1.0634 late Thursday, while the pound traded at $1.4849.
The ICE U.S. Dollar Index DXY, +0.91% a measure of the dollar’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was up 0.76% to 100.1900 in recent trade.
May silver SIK5, +0.80% fell 2.2 cents, or 0.1%, to $15.494 an ounce — nearly 2% lower for the week.
April heating oil HOJ5, -3.75% fell 6.6 cents, or 3.7%, to $1.713 a gallon, down over 8% for the week.
April natural gas NGJ15, -0.48% fell less than a cent to $2.727 per million British thermal units. It saw a weekly decline of nearly 4%.
