Investing.com - The dollar remained lower against a basket of other major currencies on Thursday, as the release of downbeat jobless claims data continued to weigh on demand for the greenback.
The dollar weakened broadly after the U.S. Labor Department said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending August 9 increased by 21,000 to 311,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 290,000.
Analysts had expected jobless claims to rise by 5,000 to 295,000 last week.
EUR/USD edged up 0.14% to 1.3383, off highs of 1.3396 reached earlier in the session.
The euro edged higher after preliminary data showed the euro area economy failed to grow in the three months to June. Economists had expected a small expansion of 0.1%.
Germany’s economy shrank by 0.2% in the three month to June, the first drop since 2012, while French gross domestic product was flat, the second consecutive quarter of stagnation.
The weak data indicated that the economic recovery in the euro area is losing momentum, adding to pressure on the European Central Bank to do more to shore up growth after it cut rates to record lows in June.
The dollar was steady against the yen, with USD/JPY at 102.44, but lower against the Swiss franc, with USD/CHF shedding 0.27% to 0.9050.
The pound held steady near four month lows, with GBP/USD at 1.6686.
Sterling remained under pressure after the Bank of England cut its wage growth forecast for this year in half on Wednesday and said that the rate of pay growth would be a key factor in determining how quickly interest rates will rise.
The New Zealand dollar remained near one week highs, with NZD/USD up 0.40% to 0.8491 after official data showed that retail sales rose more strongly than expected in the second quarter.
AUD/USD was up 0.09% to 0.9313, while USD/CAD slipped 0.09% to almost two-week lows of 1.0904.
The US Dollar Index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, edged down 0.10% to 81.57.