Investing.com - The dollar erased losses against the other major currencies on Thursday, supported by the release of upbeat U.S. jobless claims data, although the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s March meeting continued to weigh.
USD/JPY was down 1.23% at 108.42, after hitting a fresh 17-month low of 108.03 earlier in the session.
The U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending April 2 decreased by 9,000 to 267,000 from the previous week’s total of 276,000. Analysts expected jobless claims to fall by 6,000 to 270,000 last week.
On Wednesday, the minutes from the Fed's March policy meeting indicated that the central bank is unlikely to raise interest rates before June due to concerns over global economic growth.
The minutes showed that "a number" of policymakers believe that headwinds to growth will probably persist and that many urged caution about raising rates.
Meanwhile, Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said on Thursday that he will “undertake additional monetary easing” if needed, either by increasing the central bank’s asset purchases or by lowering its deposit rate further below zero, or both.
EUR/USD slid 0.28% to 1.1370.
Minutes from the European Central Bank’s March policy meeting on Thursday revealed that a “large majority” of members supported the unprecedented easing measures taken by the ECB.
Earlier in the day, ECB vice president Vitor Constancio said that Europe continued to face challenges and that the euro zone monetary authority will do whatever was needed to comply with its price stability mandate.Meanwhile, the dollar was higher against the pound and the Swiss franc, with GBP/USD down 0.30% at 1.4081 and with USD/CHF adding 0.13% to 0.9569.
In the U.K., data earlier showed that the Halifax house price index rose by 2.6% in March, beating expectationd for a 0.7% gain. House prices dropped 1.5% in February, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated 1.4% decline.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars were weaker, with AUD/USD down 0.74% at 0.7541 and with NZD/USD retreating 0.40% to 0.6797.
Elsewhere, USD/CAD was little changed at 1.3101, after rising to 0.7638 earlier in the day.
The loonie strengthened after Statistics Canada reported that building permits increased by 15.5% in February, blowing past expectations for a 4.8% rise. Building permits declined by 9.5% in January, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated 9.8% drop.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was steady at 94.52, off a fresh five-and-a-half month low of 94.03 hit overnight.