US dollar declines

The US dollar edged down against most major currencies on investors' profit-taking.

In late New York trading on Thursday, the euro gained to $1.0966 from $1.0908 of the previous session, and the British pound increased to $1.4914 from $1.4872, Xinhua reported.

The Australian dollar went up to $0.7270 from $0.7241.

The dollar bought 120.32 Japanese yen, lower than 120.85 yen of the previous session.

The dollar moved down to 0.9863 Swiss francs from 0.9906 Swiss francs, and it moved down to 1.3830 Canadian dollars from 1.3862 Canadian dollars.

Analysts said the greenback slipped as traders took profits on bullish positions, which were underpinned by the Federal Reserve's decision to raise interest rate.

The greenback was under further pressure as the country's job data came out below expectation.

On the economic front, in the week ending December 19, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 267,000, a decreased of 5,000 from the previous week's revised level and slightly below the marker expectations, according to the US Labor Department on Thursday.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was down 0.44 percent at 97.924 in late trading.