Investing.com - The dollar held steady near one-month highs against the other major currencies on Thursday, as the previous session’s upbeat U.S. data continued to support and as investors awaited the release of additional U.S. economic reports later in the day
USD/JPY gained 0.40% to 113.92.
The greenback remained broadly supported after payroll processing firm ADP said non-farm private employment rose by 214,000 last month, surpassing expectations for an increase of 190,000.
The data came after a string of upbeat U.S. economic reports, adding to expectations for the Federal Reserve to hike interest rates again this year.EUR/USD held steady at 1.0875.
Data on Thursday showed that euro zone retail sales increased by 0.4% in January, above forecasts for a rise of 0.1%.
Year-over-year, retail sales rose 2.0% in January, beating expectations for a gain of 1.3% and after rising 2.1% in the preceding month.
But the euro remained under pressure after European Central Bank board member Benoit Coeure signaled Wednesday that the ECB will ease monetary policy this month.
Coeure said it was “vital” to stimulate economic growth and boost inflation after prices in the euro zone fell 0.2% in February.
The dollar was little changed against the pound and the Swiss franc, with GBP/USD at 1.4070 and with USD/CHF at 0.9969.
Markit said its U.K. services purchasing managers index declined to 52.7 last month from a reading of 55.6 in January. It was the lowest reading since March 2013. Analysts had expected the index to dip to only 55.1 in February.
Meanwhile, the Australian and New Zealand dollars were stronger, with AUD/USD up 0.37% at 0.7322 and with NZD/USD adding 0.25% to 0.6693.
The Aussie was boosted after the Australian Bureau of Statistics earlier reported that the trade deficit narrowed to A$2.937 billion in January from A$3.524 billion in December, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated deficit of A$3.535 billion.
Analysts had expected the trade deficit to narrow to A$3.100 billion in January.
USD/CAD edged up 0.17% to 1.3443.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was steady at 98.26, not far from the previous session’s one-month high of 98.59.