FOREX-Strong U.S. data sets dollar up for best week in 1-1/2 months

(New throughout; changes dateline, previous LONDON)
By Kate Duguid
NEW YORK, Dec 20 (Reuters) - The dollar firmed against other
major currencies on Friday and was set for its best week since
early November after a series of strong U.S. economic data
releases which make a near-term cut in interest rates unlikely.
U.S. growth nudged up in the third quarter, the government
confirmed on Friday, and there are signs the economy more or
less maintained the moderate pace of expansion as the year
ended, supported by a strong labor market.
Gross domestic product increased at a 2.1% annualized rate,
the Commerce Department said on Friday in its third estimate of
third-quarter GDP. That was unrevised from November's estimate
in line with economists' expectations. Consumer spending,
however, was stronger than previously reported, and there were
upgrades to business spending. Earlier this week, the U.S. reported that the domestic
homebuilding market was regaining steam and the manufacturing
sector was stabilizing. That has driven the dollar index .DXY
up 0.43% this week. It was last up 0.22% on the day to 97.595.
This morning's GDP and personal consumption figures are
"indicators of the strength of the economy going into 2020,"
wrote analysts at Western Union Business Solutions.
These figures "further strengthen the belief that the
Federal Reserve will pause on interest rate cuts for the near
future."
Sterling was on firmer ground at the end of a bad week that
has seen it take a beating from renewed concern over a hard
Brexit. After hitting a 19-month high against the dollar last
week on the back of Conservative Party leader Boris Johnson's
electoral victory, the currency dropped when the new prime
minister revived the possibility that Britain could leave the
European Union without a trade agreement.
The pound GBP= was last 0.47% stronger against the dollar,
at $1.307 and up 0.81% against the euro EURGBP= at 0.848
pence. Nevertheless, the currency was set for its worst week
against the greenback in over two years, and its largest weekly
loss since July 2017 versus the euro.
More than three years since Britain voted to exit the
European Union in a 2016 referendum, Johnson's government will
leave the political bloc at the end of January and has set Dec.
2020 as a hard deadline to reach a trade agreement. In thin pre-holiday trade, the euro weakened by 0.33% to
$1.108 EUR= , while the Japanese yen was roughly unchanged
against the dollar at 109.36 yen JPY= .