US dollar edges up amid economic data

The US dollar rose slightly against its major rivals in late trading on Thursday as market participants digested a slew of economic data.

In the week ending April 20, US initial jobless claims, a rough way to measure layoffs, registered 230,000, an increase of 37,000 from the previous week's revised level, the Department of Labour reported on Thursday. The reading was higher than market forecasts, reports the Xinhua news agency.

Meanwhile, new orders for US manufactured durable goods increased 2.7 per cent in March to 258.5 billion US dollars, said the Department of Commerce. The rate easily topped market consensus.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was up 0.04 percent at 98.2051 in late trading.

In late New York trading, the Euro decreased to 1.1128 dollars from 1.1142 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound fell to 1.2893 dollars from 1.2905 dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar increased to 0.7010 dollar from 0.7005 dollar.

The US dollar bought 111.61 Japanese yen, lower than 112.34 Japanese yen of the previous session. The US dollar fell to 1.0210 Swiss francs from 1.0216 Swiss francs, and it decreased to 1.3487 Canadian dollars from 1.3492 Canadian dollars.

--IANS

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