NEW YORK, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. dollar was boosted against most major currencies in late New York trading on Friday as tensions in Egypt raised concerns about stability in the Middle East and Africa.

The situation in the Middle East and Africa increased investors ' demand for safe havens and prompted them to sell riskier assets.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Department said that the U.S. economy grew at a solid 3.2 percent in the fourth quarter as consumer spending accelerated, according to the advance reading on gross domestic product. Analysts had forecasted a growth of 3.5 percent. The rise was a touch below economists' expectations for a 3.5 percent rate.

For the whole of 2010, the economy grew 2.9 percent, the biggest gain since 2005. The economy contracted 2.6 percent in 2009.

The euro was lower against the U.S. Dollar to 1.3615 from 1. 3729 on Friday. The British pound dropped to 1.5869 dollars from 1. 5935.

The dollar dropped from 0.9458 to 0.9423 against Swiss francs, but rose to 1.0004 Canadian dollars from 0.9940.