Investing.com - The dollar held onto gains against the other majors currencies on Thursday, helped by upbeat U.S. data, although investors remained cautious ahead Donald Trump’s inauguration on Friday.
EUR/USD slipped 0.17% to 1.0612, off session highs of 1.0677, after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi acknowledged that the growth outlook for the euro area has improved, but reiterated that quantitative easing can be increased if the outlook becomes less favorable.
The comments came after the ECB left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at a record-low 0.0%, in line with forecasts, and kept the size of its monthly quantitative easing program at approximately €80 billion.
In the U.S., the Department of Labor said initial jobless claims in the week ending January 14 fell by 15,000 to 234,000. Analysts expected jobless claims to rise by 5,000 to 254,000 last week.
In addition, the U.S. Commerce Department said housing starts increased by 11.3% to 1.226 million units last month, beating expectations for a rise to 1.200 million units.
However, building permits unexpectedly decreased by 0.2% to 1.210 million units in December.
A separate report showed that the Philly Fed manufacturing index rose to 23.6 last month from 21.5 in November, compared to expectations for a rise to 15.8.
Elsewhere, GBP/USD gained 0.43% to 1.2309.
USD/JPY climbed 0.45% to 115.17, while USD/CHF rose 0.32% to trade at 1.0106.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars remained higher, with AUD/USD up 0.48% at 0.7542 and with NZD/USD advancing 0.62% to 0.7168.
Earlier Thursday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said the number of employed people rose by 13,500 in December, beating expectations for an increase of 10,000.
The number of employed people climbed 37,100 in November, down from a previously estimated gain of 39,100.
However, the report also showed that Australia’s unemployment rate ticked up to 5.8% in December from 5.7% in November. Analysts had expected an unchanged reading in December.
Meanwhile, USD/CAD gained 0.41% to trade at 1.3323, the highest since January 4.
Statistics Canada reported on Thursday that manufacturing sales increased 1.5% in November, exceeding expectations for a 1.0% gain. Manufacturing sales slipped 0.6% in October, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated 0.8% fall.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.17% at 101.49.