Investing.com - The dollar remained steady against the other major currencies on Thursday after data showing that Initial jobless claims ticked lower last week as uncertainty over whether the Federal Reserve will hike rates this month continued to weigh.
USD/JPY was up 0.19% to 120.73, not far from the one-and-a-half week highs of 121.28 hit overnight.
The Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits last week fell by 6,000 to 275,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 281,000, remaining in territory consistent with a strengthening labor market.
The dollar was little changed against the euro and the Swiss franc following the data, with EUR/USD at 1.1205 and USD/CHF at 0.9755.
The dollar was lower against the pound, with GBP/USD up 0.18% to 1.5394.
The pound received a boost after the Bank of England kept monetary policy unchanged on Thursday and said recent market turmoil related to China’s slowdown hasn’t altered the view that the time for a rate increase is approaching.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was fluctuating between small gains and losses and was last at 96.01.
The New Zealand dollar remained sharply lower after the country’s central bank cut interest rates overnight.
NZD/USD was down 1.78% to 0.6280 after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand cut its benchmark interest rate to 2.75% on Thursday.
RBNZ Governor Graeme Wheeler warned that a major slowdown in China could have a negative impact on New Zealand’s economy, underlining fears over a China-led slowdown in global growth.
The Australian dollar was higher, with AUD/USD up 0.63% to 0.7062, boosted by a stronger than expected domestic jobs report.
The Canadian dollar was slightly lower, with USD/CAD easing up 0.1% to 1.3269.
Fresh concerns over the threat of deflation in China hit market sentiment after data on released earlier on Thursday showing that while the annual rate of inflation edged higher in August producer prices fell at the fastest rate in six years.
Official figures showed that the prices charged by China’s manufacturers fell by an annualized 5.9% in August. It was the largest decline since late 2009.