Investing.com - The dollar pushed lower against the other major currencies on Thursday, after the release of mixed U.S. economic reports and as upbeat remarks by European Central Bank President Mario Draghi lifted sentiment.
The U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending July 16 fell by 1,000 to 253,000 from the previous week’s total of 254,000. Analysts expected jobless claims to increase by 11,000 to 265,000 last week.
Separately, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said that its manufacturing index fell to -2.9 this month from June’s reading of 4.7. Analysts had expected the index to improve to 5.0 in July.
EUR/USD rose 0.27% to trade at 1.1042, pulling away from Wednesday’s one-month low of 1.0979.
At the conclusion of its policy meeting, the ECB left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at a record-low 0.0%, in line with forecasts.
Commenting on the decision, ECB President Mario Draghi said the euro zone recovery faces several headwinds, and the risks remain tilted to the downside, citing the UK referendum, slowing emerging markets and the slow pace of structural reforms as key threats.
Darghi also said that European markets weathered the post-Brexit volatility with “encouraging resilience”, but reiterated that the central bank is ready to act by using all the instruments available under its mandate if necessary.
GBP/USD eased 0.08% to 1.3193 after a weak U.K. retail sales report added to concerns over the outlook for British economic growth
The U.K. Office for National Statistics said that retail sales dropped 0.9% in June, compared to the prior month’s 0.9% gain and expectations for a 0.6% fall. Year-on-year, retail sales increased 4.3%.
Core retail sales, which exclude automobiles, fell 0.9% last month, confounding expectations for a 0.6% decline.
However, a separate report on Thursday showed that U.K. public sector net borrowing fell to £7.31 billion in June from an upwardly revised total of £9.41 billion the previous month. Analysts had expected public sector net borrowing to hit £9.20 billion last month.
USD/JPY declined 0.64% to 106.18, pulling away from a seven-week high of 107.48 hit overnight, while USD/CHF fell 0.25% to 0.9847.
The yen slightly recovered on Thursday, but remained under pressure amid mounting expectations for additional monetary easing by the Bank of Japan in its monetary policy statement next week.
The Australian dollar remained higher, with AUD/USD up 0.29% at 0.7493, while NZD/USD slid 0.56% to 0.6982 after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand said that "further easing is likely", sparking expectations for a rate cut at its next policy meeting.
Elsewhere, USD/CAD edged down 0.11% to trade at 1.3041.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.28% at 96.88, off the previous session’s four-month high of 97.37.