The 13-nation euro hit a new all-time high Friday against the U.S. dollar, breaking through the previous record, set a day earlier, as the U.S. currency remained under pressure, the Associated Press reported. The euro bought $1.4319 before settling back slightly to 1.4306 in morning European trading Friday. In morning European trading, the euro bought $1.4319 -- surpassing the mark of $1.4310 set Thursday -- before settling back slightly to $1.4306. The euro bought $1.4293 in late New York trading on Thursday. The British pound climbed to $2.0472 on Friday from $2.0448 in New York the day before, while the dollar slipped to purchase 114.88 Japanese yen from 115.65 on Thursday. The further dip in the dollar followed another weak economic report from Washington. Currency will be a hotly debated topic at an annual G-7 meeting of central bank heads and finance ministers to be held in Washington Friday, according to Michael Woolfolk, senior currency strategist at the Bank of New York.
