The U.S. dollar traded mixed against major currencies in late New York trading on Thursday as the head of the European Central Bank (ECB) signaled a possible interest rate hike and U.S. jobless claim dropped unexpectedly last week.
Jean-Claude Trichet, president of the ECB, said risks to price developments in the euro zone are on the "upside" and that " strong vigilance" is warranted.
He signaled a possible interest rate hike in the next few months at a news conference after ECB officials decided Thursday to keep the 17-nation euro zone's key lending rate at a record low of 1 percent.
The euro surged after his comment to near 1.40 against the dollar in late trading session.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Labor Department said Thursday that the initial jobless claim fell by a seasonally adjusted 20,000 in the week ended Feb. 26, down to 368,000, the lowest level since May 2008, suggesting the recovery in the job market keeps on improving.
Also, a separate report by the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) on Thursday showed that the service industry expanded strongly in February. The ISM nonmanufacturing index rose to 59.7 percent in February from 54.9 percent in the prior month.
Both better-than-expected jobless claim and service industry data helped to encourage investors' confidence in the U.S. economy. The greenback rose against the Japanese yen, the British pound and the Swiss franc in Thursday's trading session.
The dollar index fell to 76.473 from 76.685 late Wednesday.
In late Thursday trading, the dollar bought 82.37 yen, comparing with 81.91 late Wednesday, and the euro rose to 1.3961 dollars from 1.3860.
The British pound fell to 1.6273 dollars from 1.6325. The dollar rose from 0.9240 to 0.9319 against Swiss francs, and kept unchanged of 0.9719 against Canadian dollars.
