US dollar rises on jobs data

New York: The US dollar climbed against most major currencies on Thursday as jobs data from the country came out positive.

In the week ending May 28, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims was 267,000, a decrease of 1,000 from the previous week’s unrevised level, in line with market consensus, announced the US Labour Department on Thursday, Xinhua reported.

US private sector employment increased by 173,000 jobs from April to May, said the May ADP National Employment Report on Thursday.

Meanwhile, investors were still sifting through the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book released on Wednesday. US economy reported modest growth in April through mid-May, and the tight labour market is pushing up wage and price pressures, according to the Beige Book.

Fed officials have said that they expect to raise interest rates in the coming months, if the economy continues to improve.

The dollar index, which treasures the greenback against six major peers, was up 0.10 percent at 95.552 in late trading on Thursday.

In late New York trading, the euro fell to $1.1152 from $1.1182 of the previous session, and the British pound increased to $1.4430 from $1.4406. The Australian dollar went down to $0.7226 from $0.7254.

The dollar bought 108.84 Japanese yen, lower than 109.51 yen of the previous session. The dollar added to 0.9902 Swiss francs from 0.9883 Swiss francs, and it inched up to 1.3112 Canadian dollars from 1.3072 Canadian dollars.

IANS