US dollar mixed amid economic data

New York, Sep 22 (IANS) The US dollar traded mixed against other major currencies as investors digested a batch of economic reports.

In late New York trading on Thursday, the euro rose to $1.1931 from $1.1895 in the previous session, and the British pound gained to $1.3573 from $1.3485 in the previous session, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Australian dollar fell to $0.7930 from $0.8016.

The US dollar bought 112.55 Japanese yen, higher than 112.27 yen of the previous session. The US dollar increased to 0.9717 Swiss franc from 0.9698 Swiss franc, and it moved down to 1.2347 Canadian dollars from 1.2357 Canadian dollars.

In the week ending September 16, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 259,000, a decrease of 23,000 from the previous week's revised level, the Labor Department said on Thursday.

The four-week moving average was 268,750, an increase of 6,000 from the previous week's revised average.

Meanwhile, manufacturing firms reported an improvement in regional manufacturing conditions in September, according to the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Business Outlook Survey on Thursday.

The index for current manufacturing activity in the region increased 5 points to a reading of 23.8 and has remained positive for 14 consecutive months.

The US central bank was also in focus. The Fed on Wednesday kept interest rates unchanged, but announced that it would start to unwind its $4.5 trillion balance sheet from October, a further step to end the loose monetary policy.

"We're working down our balance sheet, because we feel that's stimulus that in some sense is no longer needed," said Fed chairwoman Janet Yellen at a press conference after the Fed concluded its two-day policy meeting Wednesday.

"The basic message here is US economic performance has been good," she added.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, decreased 0.29 per cent at 92.236 in late trading.