NEW YORK, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. dollar index surged against most other major currencies in late trading on Friday, as U.S. President Donald Trump authorized doubling of the tariffs on steel and aluminum products from Turkey to 50 percent and 20 percent respectively.
Tensions ramped up between the two countries over the detention of an American pastor by Turkey. Trump tweeted Friday that the U.S.-Turkey ties "are not good at this time!".
Trump added that the Turkish currency Lira "slides rapidly downward against our very strong Dollar!"
The Turkish lira has fallen more than 10 percent since last week when the United States slapped sanctions on two Turkish ministers. Early Friday, the currency hit an all-time low of 6.30 against the U.S. dollar.
On the economic front, the U.S. Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers increased 0.2 percent in July on a seasonally adjusted basis, on par with market estimates, the Labor Department said on Friday.
Over the last 12 months, the all items index rose 2.9 percent before seasonal adjustment.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was up 0.89 percent at 96.359 in late trading.
In late New York trading, the euro fell to 1.1397 dollars from 1.1541 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound lost to 1.2760 dollars from 1.2845 U.S. dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar dropped to 0.7289 dollar from 0.7384 dollar.
The U.S. dollar bought 110.61 Japanese yen, lower than 111.02 Japanese yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar rose to 0.9948 Swiss franc from 0.9930 Swiss franc, and it climbed to 1.3133 Canadian dollars from 1.3037 Canadian dollars. Enditem
