Investing.com - The dollar remained lower against other major currencies on Thursday, as markets were still digesting the Bank of England’s earlier policy decision, as well as the Federal Reserve’s statement released on Wednesday and investors turned to U.S. employment data due on Friday.
EUR/USD was up 0.36% at 1.0809, just off an eight-week high of 1.0819 hit overnight.
The U.S. Department of Labor said initial jobless claims decreased by 14,000 in the week ending January 28 to 246,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 260,000.
Analysts had expected jobless claims to drop by 9,000 to 250,000 last week.
The data came after the Fed left interest rates unchanged at the end of its two-day policy meeting on Wednesday, in a widely expected move.
But the greenback remained under pressure as optimism over the strength of the U.S. economy waned after policymakers said that some market-based measures of inflation were still low.
However, the Fed also said that job creations remained solid, inflation had increased and economic confidence was rising.
The pound erased earlier gains, as GBP/USD retreated 0.92% to trade at 1.2543, pulling away from a seven-week high of 1.2706 hit earlier in the session.
Sterling was hit after the Bank of England raised its forecasts for growth and inflation, but indicated that it is comfortable with record low interest rates.
In addition, the BoE’s monetary policy committee voted 9-0 to keep rates on hold at 0.25% on Thursday, in line with forecasts.
Earlier Thursday, market research firm Markit and the Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply said their U.K. construction purchasing managers' index dropped to 52.2 last month from December’s reading of 54.2.
Economists had expected the index to slip to 53.8 in January.
USD/JPY lost 0.76% to trade at 112.38, not far from Tuesday’s two-month lows of 112.04, while USD/CHF dropped 0.40% to 0.9893.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars remained higher, with AUD/USD up 1.17% at a nearly three-month high of 0.7678 and with NZD/USD advancing 0.37% to 0.7305.
Meanwhile, USD/CAD was down 0.25% at 1.3015, off session lows of 1.2980 but still close to Tuesday’s four-month trough of 1.2967.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.25% at 99.44, just off a two-and-a-half month trough of 99.20 reached earlier in the day.