Dollar mixed on ECB program

The U.S. dollar traded mixed against major currencies in late New York trading on Friday as the European Central Bank (ECB)'s second round refinance program helped to lift the euro. The euro climbed against the dollar on Friday as the ECB's second three-year long-term refinancing operation (LTRO) which will take effect next week, lifted optimism. In its first LTRO last December, the central bank had lent 489 billion euros to more than 500 European banks, hoping them to use the money to buy European sovereign debts and ease the debt crisis. Meanwhile, the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan's final reading on the overall index on consumer sentiment climbed to 75.3 in February from 75.0 in January. The upbeat consumer data helped to lift optimism in markets. The dollar slipped as the dollar index lost 0.59 percent to 78.36 on Friday. In late Friday trading, the dollar bought 80.95 Japanese yen, comparing with 80.02 from late Thursday. The euro rose to 1.3457 dollars from 1.3367. The British pound also rose to 1.5887 dollars from 1.5734. The dollar fell from 0.9095 Swiss francs to 0.8951, but rose to 0.9989 Canadian dollars from 0.9986.