US dollar declines amid economic data

New York, Sep 1 (IANS) The US dollar dropped on Thursday as investors mainly focused on a batch of economic data ahead of a key report on employment.

In late New York trading, the euro increased to $1.1907 from $1.1887 in the previous session, and the British pound increased to $1.2927 from $1.2922 in the previous session. The Australian dollar increased to 0.7947 dollar from $0.7897, Xinhua news agency reported.

The dollar bought 110.02 Japanese yen, lower than 110.41 yen of the previous session. The US dollar lost to 0.9596 Swiss franc from 0.9634 Swiss franc, and it was down to 1.2504 Canadian dollars from 1.2634 Canadian dollars.

In the week ending August 26, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 236,000, an increase of 1,000 from the previous week's revised level, the Labor Department said on Thursday.

The four-week moving average was 236,750, a decrease of 1,250 from the previous week's revised average, according to the department.

Personal income increased $65.6 billion, or 0.4 per cent in July, higher than market expectation, according to estimates released by the Commerce Department.

The personal consumption expenditures price index excluding food and energy, the Federal Reserve's preferred measure of inflation, edged up 0.1 per cent in July, said the Commerce Department.

The year-on-year rate declined to 1.4 per cent in July from 1.5 per cent in June, well under the US central bank's 2 percent target.

The market has been closely watching the Federal Reserve's next move.

Expectations for tighter monetary policy in the US have been dampened recently by soft inflation data. Market expectations for a rate hike in December are just 30.9 per cent, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was down 0.21 per cent at 92.686 in late trading.