Investing.com - The dollar remained higher against a basket of other major currencies on Thursday, as the previous session's U.S. service sector report continued to support the greenback and as markets awaited upcoming U.S. jobless claims data.
The dollar remained supported after data on Wednesday showed that U.S. service sector activity grew at a faster rate than expected in February, boosting expectations for higher interest rates.
Another report showed that the U.S. private sector added 212,000 jobs in February, falling short of expectations for an increase of 220,000.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.18% to 96.15.
EUR/USD was down 0.17% to 1.1059 after the European Central Bank said it was maintaining its benchmark interest rate at a record-low 0.05%, in line with market expectations. The central bank also held its marginal lending at 0.30% and left its deposit facility rate unchanged at -0.20%.
ECB president Mario Draghi was to comment on the decision at a press conference later in the day. Draghi was expected to shed more light on how the bank will implement its €1.1 trillion quantitative easing program, which is due to start this month.
Earlier Thursday, data showed that German factory orders fell 3.9% in January, compared to expectations for a 1.0% decline. December's figure was revised to a 4.4% rise from a previously estimated 4.2% gain.
The dollar was higher against the yen and the Swiss franc, with USD/JPY up 0.41% to 120.18 and with USD/CHF climbing 0.50% to 0.9682.
In other trade, sterling edged lower, with GBP/USD easing 0.10% to 1.5249 after the Bank of England left interest rates unchanged at their current record low of 0.50%, where they have been since March 2009. The central bank also maintained the stock of asset purchases financed by the issuance of central bank reserves at £375 billion.
Industry data earlier showed that U.K. house prices declined by 0.3% last month, worse than expectations for a 0.2% drop. U.K. house prices increased 1.9% in January, downwardly revised from a previously reported gain of 2.0%.
U.K. house prices in the three months to February were 8.3% higher than in the same three months a year earlier, below forecasts for a gain of 8.5% gain and down from an increase of 8.5% in January.
The Australian and New Zealand were lower, with AUD/USD slipping 0.15% to 0.7806 and NZD/USD tumbling 1.15% to 0.7503.
Meanwhile, USD/CAD held steady at 1.2432.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to release the weekly report on initial jobless claims and data on factory orders.