The U.S. dollar fell against major currencies in late New York trading on Thursday amid expectation that Japanese government might intervene to prevent the yen's appreciation.
As the yen continued to rise against the dollar these days due to repatriation worry after a devastating earthquake hit Japan, the risk of the Japanese government's intervention are mounting.
"The chances of intervention are quite high," said Aroop Chatterjee, currency strategist at Barclays Capital, stressing that Japanese policy makers are "watching the market closely."
The dollar pulled back on Thursday from its record low of 76.32 against the yen in late Wednesday, as investors collected gains from betting on a weak dollar and feared of a possible intervention. However, the pair was still down the level of 80 in late trading session.
The U.S. Labor Department said on Thursday that the jobless claim last week fell 16,000 to 385,000, a level indicating that hiring is in a modest pace.
Also, inflation in U.S. emerged as the consumer price index rose 0.5 percent last month, mainly driven by energy and food prices hike, according to the agency.
Meanwhile, the euro rose to above 1.40 against the dollar in mid-day trading on Thursday after Spain's government bonds met with good demand from the market.
The country sold 3.2 billion euros or 4.5 billion dollars of 10- year government bonds at a yield of 5.162 percent, down from 5.2 percent in a similar sale in February.
In late Thursday trading, the dollar bought 79.05 yen, comparing with 80.11 late Wednesday, and the euro rose to 1.4007 dollars from 1.3906.
The British pound also rose to 1.6136 dollars from 1.6026. The dollar fell from 0.9097 to 0.9002 against Swiss francs, and also fell to 0.9871 Canadian dollars from 0.9916.
