Investing.com - The dollar fell to fresh seven-week lows against the other major currencies on Thursday, despite the release of upbeat U.S. data, as the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s most recent policy meeting continued to weigh.
EUR/USD gained 0.30% to 1.1323, just off a nearly two-month high of 1.1332 hit overnight.
The U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending August 13 decreased by 4,000 to 262,000 from the previous week’s total of 266,000. Analysts expected jobless claims to decline by 1,000 to 265,000 last week.
Separately, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said that its manufacturing index rose to 2.0 this month from July’s reading of minus 2.9, in line with the consensus estimate.
But sentiment on the greenback remained vulnerable after the minutes of the Fed’s July policy meeting, released on Wednesday, showed that policymakers were still divided over the need to raise interest rates this year.
In the euro zone, data showed that the consumer price index fell 0.6% in July, compared to an initial estimate for a 0.2% rise. Year-on-year, consumer prices rose 0.2%, in line with expectations.
In addition, the minutes of the European Central Bank’s latest policy meeting published on Thursday said that "it was widely felt among members that it was premature to discuss any possible monetary policy reaction at this stage."
The central bank was referring to possible measures to be taken following the June 23 Brexit vote.
GBP/USD advanced 0.81% to a nearly two-week high of 1.3144.
Sterling was boosted after the U.K. Office for National Statistics said retail sales rose 1.4% in June after a 0.9% the previous month. Year-on-year, retail sales increased 5.9%.
Core retail sales, which exclude automobile sales, gained 1.5% last month, following a 0.9% drop in June.
USD/JPY was little changed at 100.25, near Tuesday’s one-and-a-half month low of 99.52, while USD/CHF dropped 0.50% to 0.9578.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars were stronger, with AUD/USD up 0.18% at 0.7670 and with NZD/USD rising 0.34% to 0.7278.
Earlier Thursday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said the number of employed people rose by 26,200 in July, blowing past expectations for an increase of 11,000.
The unemployment rate ticked down to 5.7% last month from 5.8% in June. Analysts had expected the unemployment rate to remain unchanged in July.
Elsewhere, USD/CAD declined 0.44% at a seven-week low of 1.2788.
The commodity currencies remained supported by a rebound in oil prices after data on Wednesday showed that U.S. stockpiles dropped unexpectedly last week.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.36% at a fresh seven-week low of 94.35.