Investing.com - The dollar slid lower against a basket of other major currencies on Thursday, as the previous session's disappointing U.S. data continued to weigh and as investors eyed additional U.S. economic reports due later in the day.
The dollar came under pressure after data on Wednesday showed that U.S. industrial production fell 0.6% in March, the largest fall since August 2012 and worse than economists' expectations for a 0.3% decline.
The added to speculation that the Federal Reserve could delay hiking interest rates until late 2015, instead of tightening midyear.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.15% to 98.38.
EUR/USD edged up 0.09% to 1.0691.
Sentiment on the euro remained vulnerable after the European Central Bank said Wednesday it expects to fully implement its trillion euro quantitative easing program.
ECB President Mario Draghi played down speculation that recent signs of a recovery in the euro zone economy could see the bank scale back its buying program. Draghi also played down concerns that the asset purchase program will struggle to find enough euro zone bonds to buy.
The pound was higher, with GBP/USD climbing 0.42% to 1.4905.
Elsewhere, the dollar was steady against the yen and the Swiss franc, with USD/JPY at 119.09 and with USD/CHF at 0.9652.
In Switzerland, data earlier showed that producer prices rose 0.2% last month, beating expectations for a 0.1% uptick, after a 1.4% decline in February.
The Australian, New Zealand and Canadian dollars were broadly stronger, with AUD/USD jumping 1.25% to 1.2267 and NZD/USD gaining 0.50% to 0.7629, while USD/CAD edged 0.21% lower to trade at 1.2265.
The Aussie found support after official data showed that the number of employed people in Australia rose by 37,700 in March, exceeding expectations for an increase of 15,000. February's figure was revised to a 41,900 gain from a previously estimated 15,600 rise.
The report also showed that Australia's unemployment report ticked down to 6.1% last month from 6.2% in February, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated at 6.3%. Analysts had expected the unemployment rate to remain at 6.3%.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release a string of reports, including jobless claims, building permits, housing starts and manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia region.