Investing.com - The euro erased gains against the U.S. dollar on Thursday, as the release of upbeat U.S. jobless claims data lent support to the greenback although the Federal Reserve's most recent policy meeting minutes continued to weigh.
EUR/USD pulled away from 1.2791, the pair's highest since September 24, to hit 1.2716 during U.S. morning trade, down 0.15%.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.2621, Wednesday's low and resistance at 1.2864, the high of September 24.
In a report, the U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending October 4 decreased by 1,000 to 287,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 288,000.
Analysts had expected jobless claims to rise by 6,000 to 294,000 last week.
The dollar had weakened broadly after the minutes of the Fed's September 16-17 policy on Wednesday showed that a number of officials believe the bank's current language painted the wrong picture on the timing of rate hikes and that an interest rate rise should be tied to U.S. economic progress.
The minutes also showed that the U.S. central bank cut its growth outlook due to the higher dollar and concerns over global weakness.
The euro was also lower against the pound, with EUR/GBP shedding 0.20% to 0.7860.
Also Thursday, the Bank of England voted to keep interest rates on hold at 0.5% and to keep the size of its asset purchase program unchanged at £375 billion, in a widely expected move.
The minutes of the meeting, due to be published in two weeks, would indicate how many monetary policy committee members voted in favor of a rate hike. The MPC was split in September for the second consecutive month, with two members voting in favor of a rate increase and two against.