Investing.com - The dollar turned lower other major currencies on Thursday, weighed by the release of downnbeat U.S. jobless claims data and as the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s most recent policy meeting failed to deliver a clear message on the pace of future rate hikes.
EUR/USD edged up 0.16% to 1.0573, off the previous session’s six-week low of 1.0492.
The U.S. Department of Labor said initial jobless claims increased by 6,000 to 244,000 in the week ending February 18 from the previous week’s revised total of 238,000. Analysts had expected jobless claims to rise by 2,000 to 241,000 last week.
Late Wednesday, the minutes of the Fed’s January policy meeting showed that policymakers thought it may be appropriate to raise interest rates again "fairly soon."
However, the minutes also revealed the central bank’s uncertainty over the lack of clarity of the Trump administration's economic program, which limited the greenback’s gains.
The minutes came after Fed Chair Janet Yellen said last week that a rate increase would be appropriate at one of the Fed’s forthcoming meetings.
Elsewhere, GBP/USD rose 0.29% to 1.2496.
USD/JPY declined 0.52% to 112.72, while USD/CHF fell 0.29% to 1.0079.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars were stronger, with AUD/USD up 0.39% at 0.7731 and with NZD/USD climbing 0.58% to 0.7232.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics earlier reported that private capital expenditure fell 2.1% in the fourth quarter, compared to expectations for a 0.5% slip. Private capital expenditure declined 3.3% in the third quarter of 2016, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated 4.0% drop.
Meanwhile, USD/CAD slid 0.46% to trade at 1.3103, off Wednesday’s two-week high of 1.3211.
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 101.05, the lowest since Monday.