The dollar traded at 58.4300-4400 taka per unit, compared to 58.4350-4450 taka per unit on its previous closing Thursday, dealers of leading commercial banks said.

The demand for foreign currency was strong but trading was depressed by holiday in most foreign exchange markets, dealers said.

A few amount of dollar was traded against taka while the volume of foreign currency trade was very poor due to holiday in markets in Europe and USA , they added.

Meanwhile, the dollar gained in strength against the euro on Friday as evidence that the US economy is settling into a period of higher growth continued to mount.

Some stock market advances also helped to underpin the American currency on foreign exchange markets as the Dow Jones Industrial Average of 30 top stocks closed up for a fifth successive day.

Dealers said the euro was trading lower at 1.1591 dollars against 1.1622 late Thursday while the dollar also strengthened against the Japanese yen 110.05 yen compared with 108.72 late Thursday.

The dollar was at 1.3398 Swiss francs from 1.3317 Thursday and the British pound was changing hands at 1.6977 dollars, compared with 1.6969 dollars Thursday, they said.

Currency analysts said the American currency failed to maintain gains against the British pound as Britain's economy also continues to gather steam.

The dollar's rise against the euro reversed some of the euro's recent gains against the greenback. Traders said the raft of this week's positive US economic news had helped the dollar gain against the European currency.

A US government report Thursday, which showed an unexpected 7.2 per cent annualised increase in third quarter gross domestic product (GDP), lent the dollar strong support, igniting hopes the US economy has roared back into life.

The quarterly growth reading, the strongest bout of three month growth since the first quarter of 1984, sparked a dollar buying spree.

Further upbeat US economic news Friday lent the dollar further support going into the weekend.

The University of Michigan said its consumer sentiment index rose slightly to 89.6 points in October from 87.7 points in September.

The preliminary reading for October had been 89.4.

Despite this, some currency traders fear the fast pace of US growth reported Thursday will not be sustained given stretched household budgets and the belief the US budget deficit will need to be reined in at some stage.