US dollar rises amid upbeat data, ECB decision

 The US dollar increased against most major currencies on Thursday amid positive economic data from the country as well as European Central Bank's (ECB) decision to maintain stimulus for the euro area.

In the week ending April 16, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 247,000, a decrease of 6,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 253,000, the US Labor Department reported Thursday.

This is the lowest level for initial claims since Nov. 24, 1973, when it was 233,000.

Meanwhile, the greenback climbed against the euro as the ECB decided to leave its negative interest rates unchanged on Thursday after the Governing Council meeting.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was up 0.15 percent at 94.630 on Tuesday in late trading.

In late New York trading, the euro fell to 1.1289 dollars from 1.1306 dollars of the previous session, and the British pound declined to 1.4321 dollars from 1.4370 dollars. The Australian dollar went down to 0.7736 dollars from 0.7808 dollars.

The dollar bought 109.56 Japanese yen, lower than 109.78 yen of the previous session. The dollar climbed to 0.9744 Swiss francs from 0.9711 Swiss francs, and it inched up to 1.2747 Canadian dollars from 1.2620 Canadian dollars.