Investing.com - The U.S. dollar remained lower against almost all of its major counterparts on Thursday, as risk appetite remained supported by a growing sense of optimism that Greece would complete a debt swap deal, paving the way to securing its second tranche of bailout aid.
During U.S. morning trade, the dollar was sharply lower against the euro, with EUR/USD climbing 0.84% to hit 1.3260.
Market sentiment was dented after the Department of Labor said earlier that the number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week rose to a seasonally adjusted 362,000, confounding expectations for a decline to 350,000.
The previous week’s figure was revised up to 354,000 from 351,000.
But the euro remained supported by hopes that Greece was moving closer to securing a debt swap deal with its private creditors ahead of the 6am GMT deadline, clearing the way for the country to secure its second bailout and avert a default.
Earlier in the day, the European Central Bank left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 1% for the third consecutive month.
Speaking at the bank’s post policy meeting press conference, ECB President Mario Draghi said that the bank’s recent liquidity boosting operation was an "unquestionable success”.
Draghi also said the bank had revised down the growth estimate for the euro zone to a range of between minus 0.5% and plus 0.3% in 2012 and warned that the economic outlook was still subject to “downside risks."
The greenback was also lower against the pound, with GBP/USD rising 0.43% to hit 1.5808.
Sterling had been almost unchanged after the Bank of England left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at a record low of 0.5% earlier Thursday and announced no expansion to its GBP325 billion asset purchase program, following a GBP50 billion increase in February.
The greenback was higher against the yen but posted steep losses against the Swiss franc, with USD/JPY adding 0.39% to hit 81.40 and USD/CHF tumbling 0.85% to hit 0.9088.
The yen came under pressure earlier after data showed that Japan’s current account balance swung to a record deficit of JPY437.3 billion in January, prompting Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa to reiterate that the bank was prepared to loosen monetary policy again if needed to support the economy.
A separate report confirmed that Japan’s gross domestic product contracted by 0.2% in the last three months of 2011, in line with earlier estimates.
In Switzerland, government data showed that consumer price inflation rose more-than-expected in February, ticking up 0.3% after a 0.4% decline the previous month.
Elsewhere, the greenback was lower against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand counterparts, with USD/CAD shedding 0.42% to hit 0.9932, AUD/USD rising 0.24% to hit 1.0608 and NZD/USD rallying 0.79% to hit 0.8227.
The Bank of Canada left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 1% earlier and said that recent developments indicated that the outlook for the Canadian economy had “marginally improved” since the bank’s last policy meeting in January, while uncertainty over the global economic outlook had decreased.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.56% to hit 79.28.
Also Thursday, the euro zone’s largest economy received a boost after official data showed that German industrial production rebounded in January after a steep drop the previous month, climbing 1.6%, surpassing expectations for a 1.1% increase.
During U.S. morning trade, the dollar was sharply lower against the euro, with EUR/USD climbing 0.84% to hit 1.3260.
Market sentiment was dented after the Department of Labor said earlier that the number of people who filed for unemployment assistance in the U.S. last week rose to a seasonally adjusted 362,000, confounding expectations for a decline to 350,000.
The previous week’s figure was revised up to 354,000 from 351,000.
But the euro remained supported by hopes that Greece was moving closer to securing a debt swap deal with its private creditors ahead of the 6am GMT deadline, clearing the way for the country to secure its second bailout and avert a default.
Earlier in the day, the European Central Bank left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 1% for the third consecutive month.
Speaking at the bank’s post policy meeting press conference, ECB President Mario Draghi said that the bank’s recent liquidity boosting operation was an "unquestionable success”.
Draghi also said the bank had revised down the growth estimate for the euro zone to a range of between minus 0.5% and plus 0.3% in 2012 and warned that the economic outlook was still subject to “downside risks."
The greenback was also lower against the pound, with GBP/USD rising 0.43% to hit 1.5808.
Sterling had been almost unchanged after the Bank of England left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at a record low of 0.5% earlier Thursday and announced no expansion to its GBP325 billion asset purchase program, following a GBP50 billion increase in February.
The greenback was higher against the yen but posted steep losses against the Swiss franc, with USD/JPY adding 0.39% to hit 81.40 and USD/CHF tumbling 0.85% to hit 0.9088.
The yen came under pressure earlier after data showed that Japan’s current account balance swung to a record deficit of JPY437.3 billion in January, prompting Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa to reiterate that the bank was prepared to loosen monetary policy again if needed to support the economy.
A separate report confirmed that Japan’s gross domestic product contracted by 0.2% in the last three months of 2011, in line with earlier estimates.
In Switzerland, government data showed that consumer price inflation rose more-than-expected in February, ticking up 0.3% after a 0.4% decline the previous month.
Elsewhere, the greenback was lower against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand counterparts, with USD/CAD shedding 0.42% to hit 0.9932, AUD/USD rising 0.24% to hit 1.0608 and NZD/USD rallying 0.79% to hit 0.8227.
The Bank of Canada left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 1% earlier and said that recent developments indicated that the outlook for the Canadian economy had “marginally improved” since the bank’s last policy meeting in January, while uncertainty over the global economic outlook had decreased.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was down 0.56% to hit 79.28.
Also Thursday, the euro zone’s largest economy received a boost after official data showed that German industrial production rebounded in January after a steep drop the previous month, climbing 1.6%, surpassing expectations for a 1.1% increase.