The dollar rose against most major currencies in late New York trading on Friday after China’s August trade data turned out better than expected and Japan announced it would roll out a stimulus plan.

China’s General Administration of Customs said on Friday that the country’s trade surplus narrowed to 20.0 billion dollars in August, from 28.7 billion in July. Economists had expected a 30- billion-dollar surplus.

China’s exports rose 34.4 percent year-on-year to 139.3 billion dollars, as against a 35-percent growth expected by economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires. Imports climbed 35.2 percent to 119.27 billion dollars, compared with an expected 25-percent increase.

Meanwhile, the Japanese government on Friday announced a stimulus package worth 10.9 billion U.S. dollars. The market reacted quickly and the yen snapped its upward trend against the dollar. The news that the Japanese government has reiterated it would intervene in the forex market if necessary provided more reason for the investors to give up the yen.

A report released by the U.S. Commerce Department on Friday showed U.S. wholesale inventories jumped 1.3 percent in July, more than three times of the 0.4-percent increase analysts had anticipated, showing that wholesalers are still confident in the recovery.

In late Friday trading, the dollar bought 84.15 Japanese yen compared with 83.90 late Thursday, and the euro rose to 1.2718 dollars from 1.2700.

The British pound fell to 1.5354 dollars from 1.5430. The dollar rose from 1.0156 to 1.0192 against the Swiss franc, and also rose to 1.0354 Canadian dollars from 1.0332.