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Lisa Twaronite, MarketWatch

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TOKYO (MarketWatch) – The U.S. dollar extended gains against the euro on Friday after Moody’s Investors Service cut the Irish rating by two notches.
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Moody’s lowered its foreign and local currency bond rating of Baa3 from Baa1 with a negative outlook, citing the expected downturn in economic strength of the Irish Government, the weaker prospects for economic growth, “and” uncertainty about the solvency test, the aim of stabilizing mechanism for providing liquidity support in the future. ”
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EUR
/ quotes/comstock/21o! x seurusd
( EURUSD
1.4466
-0.0019
-0.1312% )

fell to $ 1.4455, down $ 1.4493 late North American trading Thursday.
See real-time quotes and currency instruments.

The dollar index class = “quotepeekbase bgQuote
/ quotes/comstock/11j! i: dxy0
( DXY
74.73
0.04
0.05% )

rose to 74.791 from 74.683 late Thursday, when it dipped to 74,617, the lowest level since December 2009.

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The British pound
/ quotes/comstock/21o! x sgbpusd
( GBPUSD
1.6343
-0.0004
-0.0245% )

fell to $ 1.6328 from $ 1.6354 late trading Thursday, while the Australian dollar
/ quotes/comstock/21o! x saudusd
( AUDUSD
1.0515
-0.0027
-0.2561% )

was buying $ 1.0521, down $ 1.0549.
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But against the Japanese yen, the dollar
/ quotes/comstock/21o! x susdjpy
( USDYEN
83.0100
-0.5000
-0.5987% )

fell to 83.17 yen, 83.41 yen on Thursday night.
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Japan Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda, a meeting in Washington of finance ministers and central bankers from the Group Seven and Group of 20 industrialized and developing countries, in turn, said that other G-7 countries, the coordination of assistance in a currency other action, if only was “too unstable.”
Read more about the group of seven meetings.
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Noda said the Wall Street Journal in an interview published Friday that it would be “decisive steps” to stabilize the yen if it becomes “too diverse”, while the foreign exchange market “relaxed” since last month in each other G-7 intervention.
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Avalanche of economic data in China to draw attention to the Asian session, but had little impact on currency figures are in line with those leaked last session before the transfer.
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China’s consumer price inflation accelerated in March, the fastest pace in almost three years, slightly above expectations, suggesting China could continue to tighten policy.
Read more about the Chinese data.
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“Not surprisingly, there was no major moves in currency markets in the Asian market as an official version, on the other hand, there was some buying, when rising numbers were a rumor yesterday,” said Roland Randall, head of strategic fixed income and foreign exchange brokerage TD papers.

Lisa Twaronite MarketWatch’s Tokyo bureau chief.