The Dollar Index increased 0.3 percent to 80.403, bringing its gain this week to 0.7 percent. It reached 80.578 on July 2, the highest level since June 25. The index rebounded from 78.334 on June 2, the weakest level this year.
The pound weakened against 15 of the 16 most-actively traded currencies this week. Growth in U.K. service industries slowed in June, giving the Bank of England more reason to keep its key interest rate at a record low of 0.5 percent. Gross domestic product shrank in the first quarter by the most since 1958, the Office for National Statistics said June 30.
An index based on a U.K. survey of about 700 service companies by the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply fell to 51.6 in June, from 51.7 in May, a report showed yesterday.
Investors should sell the pound on speculation the central bank will expand asset purchases when it meets to set monetary policy next week, strategists led by Hans-Guenter Redeker, global head of foreign-exchange strategy at BNP Paribas SA, wrote in a client note yesterday.