American focus: the U.S. dollar increased

The dollar rose against most major currencies after the Commerce Department report showed that U.S. retail sales unexpectedly rose in April, reinforcing optimism about the world's largest economy. As it became known, retail sales in the U.S. rose in April by 0.1%, while the expected decline of 0.3%.

Euro falls a third day against the dollar in anticipation of data on euro area GDP, which economists forecast will show the reduction in the sixth quarter in a row. At the same time, the single currency rose against the yen.

The dollar rose to its highest level since 2008 against the yen, breaking the mark of 102 yen to the dollar, amid speculation that the incentive program the Federal Reserve will cut its monthly bond purchases to boost growth. Also, the yen weakened after Tokyo avoided direct criticism of its aggressive monetary program for the Group of Seven meeting over the weekend, putting the Japanese currency on the way to a further reduction in the short term. Analysts and traders said the dollar broke through the psychologically important level of 100 yen last week due to signs of improvement in the labor market in the United States, not by the actions of the Bank of Japan. The data show that Japanese investors are buying more foreign assets, which also precipitated the fall of the yen on Friday.

The Australian dollar weakened against the U.S. dollar on the background of the fact that a survey conducted by the National Bank of Australia, showed that business confidence fell in April, ahead of the release of the federal budget. Note that the index of the NAB business confidence fell to -2 in April from 2 in March, and the conditions index rose to -6 from -7 in March. Also today it was announced that in March month agreed amount of housing loans has increased significantly, thus showing the greatest growth over the past four years, as a series of interest rate cuts by the central bank since 2011 has increased the demand for mortgages. According to the report, on an annual basis, mortgage lending rose 5.2 percent in March after seasonal adjustment. It was the biggest gain since March 2009. In addition, it was reported that the number of loan approvals rose for a third consecutive month, after rising 2.1 percent in February and 0.7 percent in January.