The European single currency rose against the dollar on Friday before a fresh batch of data on the ailing United States economy, dealers said.<br/><br/>In European trading, the euro rose to 1.5508 dollars, from 1.5445 in New York late on Thursday.<br/><br/>Against the Japanese currency, the dollar slid to 104.59 yen from 104.74 yen.<br/><br/>Later on Friday, the foreign exchange market will digest US data including the University of Michigan consumer confidence index and new homes in construction for April.<br/><br/>"Weaker data today could see euro/dollar push back towards 1.56 dollars," said Calyon analyst Mitul Kotecha.<br/><br/>The dollar had suffered on Thursday from a report that US industrial output fell 0.7 percent in April from March, the sharpest decline since February. Soft reports from the New York and Philadelphia regional Federal Reserve banks also dampened enthusiasm for the greenback.<br/><br/>"April housing starts and building permits are set to remain weak whilst Michigan confidence will fall further despite already dropping to multi-year lows," Kotecha added.<br/><br/>"Confidence (in the US) continues to be slammed by high food and energy prices, deteriorating economic conditions including a loosening labour market and of course the ongoing drop in house prices."<br/><br/>Meanwhile, traders were looking ahead to the next moves by the US and other central banks on interest rates.<br/><br/>The US Federal Reserve has been in an aggressive easing cycle to support liquidity concerns resulting from the subprime home loan crisis, but market participants believe that cycle is now at an end, dealers said.<br/><br/>The European single currency was boosted on Thursday by figures showing that eurozone economic growth picked up to 0.7 percent in the first quarter from 0.4 percent in the fourth, powered by robust momentum in Germany.<br/><br/>With further data confirming that eurozone inflation for the year to April came to 3.3 percent, expectations grew that the European Central Bank will not cut interest rates anytime soon, dealers said.<br/><br/>The ECB has left its key lending rate unchanged for almost a year at 4.0 percent, while the US Federal Reserve has slashed its rate to 2.0 percent.<br/><br/>The contrasting stances helped push the euro to record highs against the dollar last month, hitting a historic 1.6019 on April 22.<br/><br/>In London on Friday, the euro changed hands at 1.5508 dollars against 1.5445 late on Thursday, at 162.20 yen (161.81), 0.7956 pounds (0.7933) and 1.6314 Swiss francs (1.6321).<br/><br/>The dollar stood at 104.59 yen (104.74) and 1.0519 Swiss francs (1.0565).<br/><br/>The pound was at 1.9494 dollars (1.9468).<br/><br/>On the London Bullion Market, the price of gold rose to 884.13 dollars per ounce from 881.25 dollars late on Thursday.<br/><br/>
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