06:48 AM EDT, 05/24/2024 (MT Newswires) -- The US dollar fell against most major currencies in early European trade on Friday as 'high beta' counterparts outperformed despite weakness in some risky asset prices and a broad bid for government bonds.

Most major currencies rose against the US dollar with the Swiss franc and Japanese yen the only exceptions in the G10 group where both the Norwegian krone and the Swedish krona notched up notable gains over the greenback.

G20 currencies, meanwhile, were a similarly mixed bag with the Chinese renminbi and Turkish lira weakening against the US dollar while other currencies rose, led by the Russian ruble, South African rand and Korean won.

High beta currencies outperformed Friday even as stock indexes fell across much of Europe while bourses in the UK and Germany bucked the declines. Government bonds were higher almost across the board, with yields lower.

There was little meaningful economic data released in European trade, which leaves market attention fixed on today's release of core durable goods orders data in the US and March retail sales figures in Canada.

A quick summary of foreign exchange activity heading into the European lunch hour and US open;

In Europe, GBP/USD was quoted 0.20% higher at 1.2719 after recovering from intraday lows around 1.2675 set when the Office for National Statistics said UK retail sales fell 2.3% MoM in April, deepening a 0.2% contraction from March. The result was well below the consensus, which had looked for only a 0.4% fall, while GBP/USD's modest gain made pound sterling a relative underperformer among G10 currencies behind only the US dollar, Japanese yen and Swiss franc.

Elsewhere in Europe EUR/USD was quoted 0.26% higher at 1.0839 after stabilizing overnight and climbing from intraday lows around 1.0804 during the European morning. The euro was helped by data confirming that Germany's economy returned to growth in the opening quarter and remarks from European Central Bank executive board member Isabel Schnabel, who said in an interview with ARD Plusminus that "there is a risk of cutting interest rates too fast. And we should definitely avoid that."

In Asia USD/JPY edged higher to trade above 157.00 overnight and was quoted unchanged around 156.95 during the European morning after Japanese inflation was reported to have fallen in line with expectations in April. Inflation fell to 2.5% YoY in April, from 2.7%, while core inflation ebbed to 2.2% in April from 2.6% in March, in line with the consensus. The Japanese yen was the second worst performing major currency on Friday alongside the US dollar and behind only the Swiss franc.

Back in North America USD/CAD was quoted 0.12% lower at 1.3716 after falling steadily overnight and from highs of 1.3743 in the prior session. USD/CAD's limited decline made the Canadian dollar one of the poorer performing major currencies of the session ahead of the release of Canadian retail sales figures for March around 8:30 am ET.