Investing.com - The dollar edged higher against the other majors currencies on Thursday, helped by the release of upbeat U.S. jobless claims data and as markets continued to digest Donald Trump’s shock election victory.
EUR/USD eased 0.09% to 1.0902. The pair jumped to a high of 1.1298 on Wednesday, the highest since September 8, before tumbling to 1.0902.
The U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending November 5 decreased by 11,000 to 254,000 from the previous week’s total of 265,000.
Analysts had expected jobless claims to drop by 5,000 to 260,000 last week.
The dollar also regained some strength as investors began to think that a Trump presidency may not be as bad for financial markets as initially expected.
Donald Trump was declared the 45th U.S. President on Wednesday, confounding expectations for a Democratic victory.
The Mexican peso still remained under pressure, with MXN/USD down 1.98% at 0.0494, after hitting record lows of 0.0480 on Wednesday.
In a press conference on Wednesday, Mexican central bank officials said they were watching market volatility but refrained from any measures to stem the peso’s decline.
Elsewhere, GBP/USD edged up 0.17% to 1.2428.
USD/JPY gained 0.79% to 106.51, the highest since July 25, while USD/CHF rose 0.29% to 0.9876.
The yen remained under pressure since Japan’s Finance Minister Taro Aso said on Tuesday that Tokyo will need to respond to moves in the currency markets if the U.S. election results cause a sudden spike in the yen.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars were weaker, with AUD/USD down 0.08% at 0.7629 and with NZD/USD tumbling 0.99% to 0.7206.
Earlier Thursday, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand lowered its benchmark interest rate from 2.00% to a new record-low of 1.75%, in a widely expected move.
Meanwhile, USD/CAD advanced 0.37% to trade at 1.3474, just off Wednesday’s fresh seven-month highs of 1.3525.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.19% at 98.85, just off a two-and-a-half week high of 99.06 hit earlier in the session.