Investing.com - The dollar erased gains against the other major currencies on Thursday, after the release of positive U.S. jobless claims data, as investors locked in gains from the greenback’s recent rally to a seven-month peak.
EUR/USD edged up 0.19% to 1.1031, off a more than two-month low of 1.0985 hit earlier in the session.
The U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending October 8 held steady at 246,000. Analysts expected jobless claims to rise by 8,000 to 254,000 last week.
The greenback had climbed broadly after the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s September policy meeting released on Wednesday showed several voting members of the policy committee judged a rate hike would be warranted "relatively soon" if the U.S. economy continued to strengthen.
USD/JPY declined 0.42% to trade at 103.77.
Safe-haven demand strengthened after data earlier showed that China’s trade surplus narrowed to $41.99 billion in September from $52.05 billion the previous month. Analysts had expected the trade surplus to widen to $53.00 billion last month.
The weak data fueled fresh concerns over a slowdown in the world’s second largest economy.
GBP/USD was little changed at 1.2200, while USD/CHF slipped 0.22% to 0.9884.
The pound had found some support after British Prime Minister Theresa May was pushed into allowing Tory MPs on Tuesday to vote for a Labour motion calling for greater scrutiny of her Brexit proposals.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars trimmed earlier losses, with AUD/USD down 0.12% at 0.7553 and with NZD/USD steady at 0.7059.
Meanwhile, USD/CAD fell 0.22% to 1.3247.
The commodity currencies were affected by a decline in oil prices, after OPEC said its production rose to the highest level in at least eight years in September and following reports of an increase in U.S. crude stockpiles.
In Canada, data on Thursday showed that new housing prices rose 0.2% in August, disappointing expectations for an increase of 0.3%, after a 0.4% gain the previous month.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.16% at 97.84, off fresh seven-month high of 98.12 hit overnight.