Investing.com - The dollar pared losses against the other major currencies on Thursday, after the release of mixed U.S. economic reports, although the Federal Reserve’s most recent policy decision continued to weigh.
USD/JPY dove 2.53% to 108.34, the lowest since April 18.
The Bureau of Economic Analaysis said that U.S. economic growth slowed to an annual rate of 0.5%, from the 1.4% expansion registered in the fourth quarter of 2015.
That was the slowest pace of growth since the first quarter of 2014 and missed consensus expectations for a 0.7% increase.
At the same time, the U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending April 23 decreased by 9,000 to a seasonally adjusted 257,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 248,000.
Analysts had expected jobless claims to rise by 12,000 to 260,000 last week.
The data came a day after the Fed left interest rates unchanged close to zero on Wednesday and offered little guidance on future rate hikes.
On the other hand, the yen remained broadly supported after the Bank of Japan kept the deposit rate at minus 0.1% and its asset purchases at ¥80 trillion per year. It also pushed back the expected data for reaching its 2% inflation target.
Ahead of the meeting expectations had been building for more monetary stimulus measures.
EUR/USD held steady at 1.1320.
Earlier Thursday, official data showed that Germany’s unemployment rate remained unchanged at 6.2% this month, in line with expectations.
The dollar was still lower against the pound and the Swiss franc, with GBP/USD up 0.08% at 1.4554 and with USD/CHF slipping 0.21% to 0.9690.The Australian and New Zealand dollars were stronger, with AUD/USD up 0.29% at 0.7622 and with NZD/USD rallying 1.12% to 0.6960.
In a widely expected move, the RBNZ left its benchmark interest rate at 2.25% at the conclusion of its monthly policy meeting.
The New Zealand central bank said that "monetary policy will continue to be accommodative" and added that “further policy easing may be required to ensure that future average inflation settles near the middle of the target range.”
Elsewhere, USD/CAD fell 0.24% to a fresh nine-month low of 1.2570, as higher oil prices continued to support the commodity-related loonie.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.37% at 94.03, off a nearly three-week low of 93.66 hit earlier in the session.