SINGAPORE, Dec 23 Reuters The dollar was on the front foot on Friday as solid U.S. economic data reinforced the need for the Federal Reserve to stay on its aggressive monetary policy tightening path and further raised the odds of higherforlonger rates.

The greenback gave back some of its gains in Asia trade after rising broadly overnight, although it hobbled against the Japanese yen, which continues to draw solid demand after the Bank of Japan39;s surprise policy tweak earlier in the week.

Sterling rose 0.05 to 1.2043, after having slumped to a threeweek trough of 1.1993 overnight.

The kiwi gained 0.38 to 0.62715, after falling 0.7 and similarly touching a threeweek low on Thursday.

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits increased less than expected last week, pointing to a stilltight labour market, data released on Thursday showed.

A second report on the same day confirmed the U.S. economy rebounded in the third quarter at a pace faster than previously estimated, after contracting in the first half of the year.

The market continues to bounce around on thoughts of what the Fed39;s going to do next, said Jarrod Kerr, chief economist at Kiwibank.

The market39;s in an interesting predicament at the moment, sort of trying to figure out when the last rate hike is, and at what level.

The euro edged up 0.06 to 1.0606, with the single currency under broad pressure recently due to a combination of weak eurozone growth, the Ukraine war and the…