US dollar climbs after economic data

New York: The US dollar traded higher against most major currencies on Thursday as investors were sifting through a batch of economic data from the country.

In late New York trading on Thursday, the euro decreased to $1.2303 from $1.2374 in the previous session, and the British pound fell to $1.3934 from $1.3972 in the previous session, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Australian dollar was down to $0.7798 from $0.7881.

The US dollar bought 106.25 Japanese yen, lower than 106.29 Japanese yen of the previous session. The US dollar rose to 0.9516 Swiss franc from 0.9448 Swiss franc, and it was up to 1.3057 Canadian dollars from 1.2941 Canadian dollars.

In the week ending March 10, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 226,000, a decrease of 4,000 from the previous week’s revised level, the US Labor Department said.

The 4-week moving average was 221,500, a decrease of 750 from the previous week’s revised average.

In a separate report, the department announced that US import prices increased 0.4 per cent in February, beating market consensus of 0.3 per cent, while prices for US exports rose 0.2 per cent in February following a 0.8-per cent advance in the previous month.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, increased 0.45 per cent at 90.135 in late trading.

IANS