Investing.com – The U.S. dollar was mixed against other major currencies on Thursday, after official data showed that the number of U.S. workers filing for unemployment benefits fell further than forecast last week.
The greenback was up against the euro, with EUR/USD shedding 0.16% to hit 1.3489, in the wake of disappointing data on German retail sales. The dollar also rose versus the yen and kiwi, with USD/JPY climbing 0.33% to reach 93.78 and NZD/USD dropping 0.71% to reach 0.7056.
The yen's decline against the greenback came after official data showed that Japanese manufacturers' business confidence rose for a fourth consecutive quarter, as expected. The kiwi fell against the U.S. dollar, meanwhile, after the International Monetary Fund said New Zealand's currency was overvalued by 10-25%.
But the U.S. dollar slipped against sterling, with GBP/USD gaining 0.45% to hit 1.5252 on upbeat British manufacturing data and as U.K. political uncertainty diminished in the wake of a new poll that gave the opposition Conservative party a 10% lead in the run-up to Britain's election.
The greenback was also down against the Swiss franc and its Australian and Canadian counterparts: USD/CHF shed 0.38% to reach 1.0498, AUD/USD advanced 0.11% to hit 0.9182 and USD/CAD slid 0.29% to reach 1.0123.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was up 0.01%.
Earlier in the day, the U.S. Labor Department said that in the week ending March 27, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims was 439,000, down from the previous week's figure of 445,000, which was revised up from 442,000.
Also Thursday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the U.S. unemployment rate would remain "unacceptably high" for some time to come.
The greenback was up against the euro, with EUR/USD shedding 0.16% to hit 1.3489, in the wake of disappointing data on German retail sales. The dollar also rose versus the yen and kiwi, with USD/JPY climbing 0.33% to reach 93.78 and NZD/USD dropping 0.71% to reach 0.7056.
The yen's decline against the greenback came after official data showed that Japanese manufacturers' business confidence rose for a fourth consecutive quarter, as expected. The kiwi fell against the U.S. dollar, meanwhile, after the International Monetary Fund said New Zealand's currency was overvalued by 10-25%.
But the U.S. dollar slipped against sterling, with GBP/USD gaining 0.45% to hit 1.5252 on upbeat British manufacturing data and as U.K. political uncertainty diminished in the wake of a new poll that gave the opposition Conservative party a 10% lead in the run-up to Britain's election.
The greenback was also down against the Swiss franc and its Australian and Canadian counterparts: USD/CHF shed 0.38% to reach 1.0498, AUD/USD advanced 0.11% to hit 0.9182 and USD/CAD slid 0.29% to reach 1.0123.
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was up 0.01%.
Earlier in the day, the U.S. Labor Department said that in the week ending March 27, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims was 439,000, down from the previous week's figure of 445,000, which was revised up from 442,000.
Also Thursday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the U.S. unemployment rate would remain "unacceptably high" for some time to come.