Investing.com - The dollar trimmed gains but still remained broadly supported against a basket of other major currencies on Thursday, as the release of strong U.S. economic reports continued to boost demand for the greenback.
The dollar strengthened after the U.S. Department of Labor reported that the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending October 11 decreased by 23,000 to 264,000 from the previous week’s total of 287,000.
Analysts had expected jobless claims to rise by 3,000 to 290,000 last week.
A separate report showed that U.S. industrial production climbed 1.0% last month, beating expectations for a 0.4% rise. August's figure was revised to a 0.2% slip from a previously estimated 0.1% downtick.
In addition, the Federal Reserve of Philadelphia said its manufacturing index fell to 20.7 this month from a reading of 22.5 in September. Analysts had expected the index to decline to 20.0 in October.
The US Dollar Index, which tracks the performance of the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, rose 0.36% to 85.17.
EUR/USD retreated 0.44%, to trade at 1.2780. Revised data earlier showed that euro zone consumer price inflation remained at 0.3% in September, in line with expectations.
Core CPI, which excludes food, energy, alcohol, and tobacco, ticked up to 0.8% last month from an initial estimate of 0.7%.
But the single currency remained fragile after data on Tuesday showed that the euro zone's industrial production declined more than expected in August, while a separate report showed that German economic sentiment deteriorated to the lowest level since December 2012 in October.
GBP/USD edged up 0.18%, erasing earlier losses to trade at 1.6048.
The yen and the Swiss franc were lower, with USD/JPY up 0.17% to 106.08 and with USD/CHF climbing 0.44% to 0.9444.
The commodity linked dollars remained broadly weaker, with AUD/USD retreating 0.80% to 0.8759 and NZD/USD down 0.53% to 0.7939.
In New Zealand, a report showed that the Business Manufacturing Index rose to a 13-month high of 58.1 in September from 57.0 in August, whose figure was revised up from a previously estimated reading of 56.5.
Meanwhile USD/CAD hit 5-year highs before retracing some of those gains to trade at 1.1281, up 0.28% for the day.
Statistics Canada reported that manufacturing sales declined by 3.3% in August, compared to expectations for a 2.0% fall. July's figure was revised to an increase of 2.9% from a previously estimated 2.5% rise.