NEW YORK, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. dollar fell on Thursday as investors were digesting the latest economic data from the country.
The number of initial jobless claims, a tracker for layoffs in the United States, was 212,000 in the week ending Aug. 11, a decrease of 2,000 from the previous week's revised level, the U.S. Labor Department said on Thursday. The four-week moving average was 215,500, an increase of 1,000 from the previous week's revised average.
Meanwhile, U.S. housing starts in July were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,168,000. The reading was 0.9 percent above the revised June estimate of 1,158,000, but was 1.4 percent below the July 2017 rate, according to the Commerce Department on Thursday.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, fell 0.05 percent at 96.6496 in late trading.
In late New York trading, the euro increased to 1.1365 dollars from 1.1344 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound rose to 1.2708 dollars from 1.2692 U.S. dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar rose to 0.7259 dollar from 0.7237 dollar.
The U.S. dollar bought 110.88 Japanese yen, higher than 110.58 Japanese yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar increased to 0.9964 Swiss franc from 0.9927 Swiss franc, and it was up to 1.3157 Canadian dollars from 1.3137 Canadian dollars. Enditem
