US dollar drops slightly amid mixed data
New York: The US dollar ticked down in late trading on Thursday, as investors digested a batch of key mixed data on US economy.
US initial jobless claims rose unexpectedly last week, hitting the highest level in seven weeks, which pointed to weakening strength of the country’s labour market, the Xinhua news agency reported.
For the week ending June 22, the number of Americans filing applications for unemployment benefits rose to 2,27,000, a sharp increase of 10,000 from the previous week, said the Labour Department on Thursday.
On the other hand, US Gross Domestic Production (GDP) grew at an annualized rate of 3.1 per cent in the first quarter after revision, said the Department of Commerce in its third estimate on Thursday.
The rate remained unchanged from its estimate last month, yet higher than the 2.2 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2018.
Specifically, growth in personal consumption turned out to be weaker after adjustment, while investments, exports and government spending were revised higher than previously estimated.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, fell 0.03 per cent at 96.1858 in late trading.
In late New York trading, the euro was up to 1.1373 dollars from 1.1369 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound was down to 1.2665 dollars from 1.2688 US dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar rose to 0.7004 dollar from 0.6984 dollar.
The US dollar bought 107.73 Japanese yen, lower than 107.83 Japanese yen of the previous session. The US dollar fell to 0.9759 Swiss franc from 0.9779 Swiss franc, and it was down to 1.3093 Canadian dollars from 1.3115 Canadian dollars.
