Investing.com - The dollar pared losses against the other major currencies on Thursday, easing off an eight-month trough after the release of upbeat U.S. economic growth data.
EUR/USD was up 0.19% at 1.1401, after hitting a fresh one-year high of 1.1435 earlier in the session.
Official data showed that U.S. gross domestic product rose 1.4% in the first quarter, revised up from the previous reading of a 1.2% expansion. Analysts had expected growth to remain unchanged from the prior revision.
On a less positive note, the U.S. Department of Labor said initial jobless claims in the week ending June 24 increased by 2,000 to 244,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 242,000. Analysts expected jobless claims to fall by 2,000 to 240,000 last week.
Meanwhile, the euro remained supported after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi indicated on Tuesday that the bank could soon start to unwind its quantitative easing program.
GBP/USD rose 0.28% to 1.2963, just off a one-month high of 1.3007 overnight.
The pound strengthened broadly after Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said Wednesday that some removal of monetary stimulus is likely to become necessary as spare capacity in the economy erodes.
The BoE’s monetary policy committee was split 5-3 at its meeting earlier this month on whether to raise interest rates from a record-low 0.25%. Carney voted to keep rates unchanged.
Earlier Thursday, official data showed that U.K. net lending to individuals rose by £5.3 billion in May, beating expectations for an increase of £4.0 billion.
Elsewhere, USD/JPY gained 0.36% to 112.69, while USD/CHF held steady at 0.9590.
The Australian dollar was stronger, with AUD/USD up 0.30% at 0.7662, while NZD/USD slipped 0.23% to 0.7289.
Data earlier showed that New Zealand’s ANZ Business Confidence index rose to 24.8 in June from 14.9 the previous month.
Meanwhile, USD/CAD was little changed at 1.3029.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was steady at 95.71, after falling to an eight-month low of 95.43 earlier in the day.