The dollar slumped to a record low against the euro today after weak US economic data heightened expectations of a fresh cut to US interest rates next week.
Historically high oil prices, which could play a part in slowing the US economy, also kept the dollar under pressure, they added.
In evening European trade, the euro struck $1.4393 - the highest level since the single currency's creation in 1999. It later stood at €1.4384.
Elsewhere, gold prices rocketed to $778.99 per ounce - last seen in January 1980.
'Most of the data that has come through this week from the US has been disappointing and has pushed the Fed funds futures market into fully discounting a 25 basis point rate cut from the Fed next week,' said Steve Barrow, currency strategist at Bear Stearns.
Government data published yesterday showed the US housing market stuck in the mire, with sales of new homes down 23% from a year earlier.
On Wednesday, separate data revealed a sharper-than-expected drop in US sales of existing homes.
The figures have added to the near-universal view that the Federal Reserve will next week cut US interest rates from the current level of 4.75 percent in an effort to bolster the economy.
The Fed last month slashed rates by a hefty half-point to try to shield the world's largest economy from housing and credit market woes.
Elsewhere, the dollar was also under further pressure from record-breaking oil prices.
Crude futures on Friday surged past $92 for the first time on rising tensions in the oil-rich Middle East following Turkey's military threat against Kurdish rebels in Iraq and new US sanctions on Iran.
