WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The U.S. dollar turned in a mixed performance on Thursday with its movements largely impacted by the latest batch of economic data from across the globe, and continued impasse over a new coronavirus relief package.
The market was also looking ahead to the monthly jobs data, due on Friday.
Data released by the Labor Department showed first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits pulled back by much more than expected in the week ended August 1st. The report said initial jobless claims tumbled to 1.186 million, a decrease of 249,000 from the previous week's revised level of 1.435 million.
Economists had expected jobless claims to edge down to 1.415 million from the 1.434 million originally reported for the previous week.
Friday's jobs data is expected to show an increase of 1.6 million jobs in July. Employment spiked by 4.8 million jobs in June. Economists expect unemployment to dip to 10.5% from 11.1%.
The dollar index, down at 92.52 in early Asian deals, rose to 93.09 by late morning, before losing its way again. It was last seen at 92.80, down 0.08% from previous close.
Against the Euro, the dollar weakened to $1.1878, from Wednesday's close of $1.1863.
The Pound Sterling strengthened to $1.3186 before paring gains, and was last seen at $1.3144, still up nearly 0.25% from previous close. The Bank of England policymakers left the interest rate at a record low of 0.1% as widely expected, and held the size of the asset purchase programme at GBP 745 billion.
In the accompanying Monetary Policy Report, the bank cautioned that unemployment will rise drastically and the economic and inflation outlook depends critically on the evolution of the pandemic.
The Japanese yen was little changed at 105.55 a dollar, compared with 105.60 a dollar Wednesday evening.
Against the Aussie, the dollar weakened to 0.7237, losing more than 0.6%.
The Swiss franc weakened to 0.9101 a dollar, sliding nearly 0.2% from previous close. The Canadian Loonie slipped to 1.3304, losing about 0.3%.
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