Dollar rises supported by upbeat U.S. jobless claims data, euro slips on Greece

Dollar rises supported by upbeat U.S. jobless claims data, euro slips on Greece

19 February 2015, 15:24
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The greenback edged higher against its peers on Thursday, as it was underpinned by strong U.S. jobless claims data and as renewed concerns over Greece's debt dampened market sentiment.

The U.S. Department of Labor said in a report the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending February 14 decreased by 21,000 to 283,000 from the previous week’s total of 304,000, while economists had expected initial jobless claims to fall by 11,000 to 293,000 last week.

The dollar had weakened yesterday after the minutes of the Fed's January meeting showed that policymakers expressed concern that raising interest rates too soon could dampen the U.S. economic recovery.

The euro edged lower against the dollar, with EUR/USD down 0.11% to 1.1384 following reports that Germany rejected a proposed bailout extension request from Greece. Earlier, the European Commission had welcomed the bailout extension request, saying it could pave the way for compromise and stability in the euro zone.

Separately, the minutes of the European Central Bank's January meeting showed earlier Thursday that the Governing Council "broadly shared" the view that quantitative easing was needed.

The pound also edged lower against the dollar, with GBP/USD down 0.12% to 1.5417.

The Confederation of British Industry earlier reported that its index of industrial order expectations increased by 6.0 points to a reading of 10.0 this month from January’s reading of 4.0, while analysts had expected the index to rise by 2.0 points to 6.0 in February.

The pair USD/JPY rose 0.27% to 119.09, while USD/CHF advanced 0.56% to 0.9476.

The commodity-exposed Australian, New Zealand and Canadian dollars were broadly weaker, with AUD/USD shedding 0.33% to 0.7784 and NZD/USD sliding 0.34% to 0.7518, while USD/CAD climbed 0.64% to 1.2531.

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