Forex - U.S. dollar higher on employment, safe haven buying

Investing.com - The U.S. dollar traded higher on its major counterparts Thursday, on the release of better than expected U.S. employment data, while concerns over the outlook for the global economy triggered safe haven greenback buying 
  
During U.S. afternoon trade, the dollar moved lower against the euro, with EUR/USD losing 0.26% to hit 1.3182. 
  
The Department of Labor reported U.S. jobless claims fell to the lowest level since February 2008 last week, plunging to a seasonally adjusted 348,000, beating expectations for a decline of 3,000 to 350,000.

Earlier, the euro weakened against the greenback after preliminary data indicated manufacturing activity in the euro zone surprisingly dropped in March, while service sector activity in the region declined to the lowest level in four months, resulting in concerns that the region’s economy is not improving. 
  
The greenback was also higher against the pound, with GBP/USD giving back 0.37% to hit 1.5812. 
  
Sentiment on the pound was damaged earlier when official data showed that U.K. retail sales posted the largest drop in nine months in February and were revised down for the previous month. 
  
But the greenback was lower against the yen, with USD/JPY tumbling 0.91% to hit 82.65. 
  
Government data showed earlier that Japan’s trade balance swung into a surplus of JPY32.92 billion in February, confounding expectations for a deficit of JPY120 billion following the downwardly revised deficit of JPY1.47 trillion reported in January. 
  
The dollar was higher against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF adding 0.18% to hit 0.9137. 
  
Elsewhere, the greenback posted strong gains against its Canadian, Australian and New Zealand cousins, with USD/CAD advancing 0.77% to hit 0.9998, AUD/USD falling 0.88% to hit 1.0365 and NZD/USDslumping 0.92% to hit 0.8080. 
  
In Canada, official data showed that retail sales rose by a seasonally adjusted 0.5% in January, disappointing expectations for a 1.8% increase, while core retail sales declined 0.5%, against expectations for a 0.5% gain. 
  
Sentiment on the growth linked dollars was also hit on Thursday, after a report showed that China’s HSBC manufacturing index contracted for a fifth successive month in March, sparking concerns over the outlook for global growth. 
  
The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, was up 0.17% to hit 79.94.