NEW YORK, March 29 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. dollar climbed against most major currencies on Thursday as economic data from the country came out positive.
In the week ending March 24, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims for state unemployment benefits was 215,000, a decrease of 12,000 from the previous week's revised level, the U.S. Labor Department announced Thursday. This is the lowest level for initial claims since Jan. 27, 1973 when it was 214,000.
U.S. personal income increased 67.3 billion U.S. dollars, or 0.4 percent, in February, while personal consumption expenditures increased 27.7 billion dollars, or 0.2 percent, the Commerce Department said Thursday. Both figures are on par with market consensus.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, rose 0.01 percent at 90.071 in late trading.
In late New York trading, the euro fell to 1.2304 dollars from 1.2315 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound decreased to 1.4031 dollars from 1.4087 U.S. dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar was up to 0.7685 dollar from 0.7661 dollar.
The U.S. dollar bought 106.50 Japanese yen, lower than 106.86 Japanese yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar was down to 0.9562 Swiss franc from 0.9566 Swiss franc, and it fell to 1.2875 Canadian dollars from 1.2910 Canadian dollars.
