Investing.com - The dollar pushed lower against the other major currencies on Thursday, as markets took a breather after the greenback’s recent rally to seven-month highs, but it still remained supported by growing hopes for a U.S. rate hike before the end of the year.
EUR/USD rose 0.24% to 1.1036, off a more than two-month low of 1.0985 hit earlier in the session.
The U.S. Department of Labor said on Thursday that 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 remained supported 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 0.74% to trade at 103.45.
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 eased up 0.09% to 1.2207, while USD/CHF slid 0.33% to 0.9873.
The Australian dollar was steady, with AUD/USD at 0.7557, while NZD/USD added 0.20% to 0.70789.
Meanwhile, USD/CAD shed 0.36% to trade at 1.3227.
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 0.34% at 97.67, just off a seven-month high of 98.12 hit overnight.