Investing.com - The dollar remained broadly lower against the other major currencies on Thursday, after measures unveiled by the European Central Bank sent the euro sharply higher and as downbeat U.S. data dampened demand for the greenback.
EUR/USD rallied 2.21% to 1.0846, after falling to a seven-month trough of 1.0526 earlier in the day.
ECB President Mario Draghi said the bank will expand its bond-buying purchase scheme beyond the current cut-off point of September 2016 until the end of March 2017, or beyond if necessary.
The ECB extended the range of assets that are eligible for purchase and will now also buy regional and local government debt and will reinvest the proceeds from quantitative easing as bonds mature.
The pace of the QE program is to remain unchanged at €60 billion, disappointing expectations that the central bank would speed up its bond-buying scheme.
Earlier Thursday, the ECB's governing council lowered the deposit facility rate to -0.3% from -0.20%, in line with market expectations.
The ECB's main refinancing rate was left unchanged at a record-low 0.05%, in line with market expectations.
USD/JPY slipped 0.13% to 123.08.
In the U.S., the Institute of Supply Management said its non-manufacturing purchasing manager's index fell to six-month low of 55.9 last month from 59.1 in October, missing forecasts for a reading of 58.0.
The data came shortly after the Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending November 28 increased by 9,000 to 269,000 from the previous week’s total of 260,000. Analysts expected jobless claims to rise by 8,000 last week.
Data also showed that U.S. factory orders increased by 1.5% in October, beating forecasts for a gain of 1.4%.
Elsewhere, the dollar pushed lower against the pound and the Swiss franc, with GBP/USD up 0.63% at 1.5043 and with USD/CHF tumbling 1.57% to 1.0022.
The pound found some support after Markit said its U.K. services PMI rose to 55.9 last month from October's 54.9. Analysts had expected the index to rise to 55.0.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars were weaker, with AUD/USD down 0.23% at 0.7294 and with NZD/USD sliding 0.31% to 0.6620.
Meanwhile, USD/CAD rose 0.31% to trade at 1.3383.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 1.50% at 98.55, off Wednesday's eight-month peak of 100.54.