Investing.com - The dollar edged higher against the other major currencies on Thursday, extending a pullback from recent lows against the yen and the euro as upbeat U.S. economic reports eased worries about lackluster first quarter growth.
USD/JPY rose 0.19% to 107.20, off Tuesday’s lows of 105.54, the weakest level since October 2014.
Trade volumes remained thin with Japanese financial markets closed for the Golden Week holiday until Friday.
EUR/USD was down 0.27% to 1.1454, pulling away from Tuesday’s highs of 1.1615, the highest level since August.
The dollar was boosted after data on Wednesday showing that the U.S. trade deficit shrank to $40.4 billion in March, as imports fell 3.6% to their lowest level since 2010.
Economists’ had expected the U.S. trade deficit to narrow to $41.50 billion.
The report was seen as likely to boost up the government’s revisions to first quarter growth.
Another report showed that the Institute of Supply Management’s non-manufacturing index rose to its highest level since December last month.
The reports offset data showing that U.S. private sector hiring grew at the slowest rate in three years in April.
Payrolls processor ADP said nonfarm payrolls rose by 156,000 last month, the smallest increase since April 2013 and well below forecasts for jobs growth of 196,000.
The ADP figures come ahead of the U.S. government’s nonfarm payrolls report on Friday, which is expected to show that the economy added 202,000 jobs last month.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, rose 0.18% to 93.44.
The index had hit a low of 91.89 on Tuesday, the weakest level since January 2015.