NEW YORK, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. dollar appreciated in late trading on Friday as safe-haven demand increased amid coronavirus fears and weak U.S. retail sales.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, increased 0.59 percent at 90.7700.

In late New York trading, the euro was down to 1.2079 U.S. dollars from 1.2155 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound fell to 1.3581 dollars from 1.3681 U.S. dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar fell to 0.7709 U.S. dollar from 0.7783 dollar.

The U.S. dollar bought 103.86 Japanese yen, higher than 103.79 Japanese yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar rose to 0.8910 Swiss franc from 0.8877 Swiss franc, and it increased to 1.2728 Canadian dollars from 1.2637 Canadian dollars.

U.S. retail sales slipped 0.7 percent in December, the Commerce Department reported on Friday, as the surging COVID-19 pandemic continues to wound the economy. The November data was revised down to show sales declining 1.4 percent instead of 1.1 percent as previously reported. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast retail sales unchanged in December.

The United States has registered more than 23.4 million confirmed COVID-19 cases with related deaths exceeding 390,000 as of Friday afternoon, showed a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

U.S. President-elect Joe Biden on Thursday unveiled a 1.9-trillion-U.S.-dollar COVID-19 relief bill, which includes another round of direct payments to individuals, aid for state and local governments, increased unemployment benefits, as well as more funding for testing and vaccine distribution. Enditem

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