Investing.com - The euro rose against the dollar on Thursday after mixed U.S. data gave investors room to sell the greenback for profits and snap up nicely-priced positions in the single currency.
In U.S. trading, EUR/USD was up 0.39% at 1.2909, up from a session low of 1.2835 and off a high of 1.2928.
The pair was likely to find support at 1.2835, the session low, and resistance at 1.2994, Tuesday's high.
The dollar has strengthened against the euro in recent sessions on expectations for U.S. and European monetary policies to diverge, though mixed data softened the greenback's advance a day after the Federal Reserve released a somewhat dovish statement.
In a report, the U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending Sept. 13 fell by 36,000 to 280,000, the lowest level since mid-July, from the previous week’s revised total of 316,000.
Analysts had expected jobless claims to fall by 11,000 to 305,000 last week.
Separately, the U.S. Commerce Department said that the number of building permits issued last month dropped by 5.6% to 998,000 units from July’s total of 1.057 million.
Analysts expected building permits to fall by 0.4% to 1.045 million units in August.
The report also showed that U.S. housing starts tumbled by 14.4% last month to hit 956,000 units from July’s total of 1.117 million units, confounding expectations for an increase to 1.040 million.
The data came a day after the Fed reiterated that it expects rates to remain at rock-bottom levels for a "considerable time" after its bond-purchasing program ends.
Elsewhere, the euro was down against the pound, with EUR/GBP down 0.23% at 0.7886, and up against the yen, with EUR/JPY up 0.74% at 140.37.