The U.S. dollar index increased against other major currencies in late trading on Friday, as investors digested a string of economic data.

U.S. retail sales increased 0.1 percent in August from the previous month, the Department of Commerce said on Friday. It is the smallest gain in six months, missing market forecasts of 0.4-percent rise.

"Retail sales were weaker than expected in August, but a substantial upward revision to July means consumption in the third quarter is tracking as strong as expected barring further weakness in September. Weak sales should be no surprise after a blockbuster month like July," said Chris Low, chief economist at FTN Financial, in a note.

Meanwhile, U.S. import prices declined 0.6 percent in August, following a 0.1-percent decrease in the previous month, according to statistics from the Labor Department.

Falling prices for both fuel and nonfuel imports contributed to the August decline, it said. Prices for U.S. exports edged down 0.1 percent in August, after decreasing 0.5 percent in July.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, increased 0.43 percent at 94.9247 in late trading.

In late New York trading, the euro was down to 1.1632 dollars from 1.1692 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound fell to 1.3066 dollars from 1.3111 U.S. dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar decreased to 0.7165 dollar from 0.7195 dollar.

The U.S. dollar bought 112.01 Japanese yen, higher than 111.88 Japanese yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar was up to 0.9668 Swiss franc from 0.9659 Swiss franc, and it increased to 1.3031 Canadian dollars from 1.2990 Canadian dollars.