US dollar trimmed gains versus peers after US jobless claims data

US dollar pulled away from highs against its major peers on Thursday after the official weekly report stated the number of people, who filed for unemployment assistance, jumped to a three-week high during the past week.

During European afternoon trade EUR/USD pair increased to 1.3216 at 13:03 GMT, off current session low at 1.3179. USD/JPY declined to 97.66 at 13:05 GMT after reaching a session high at 98.30. GBP/USD went as high as 1.5482 at 13:05 GMT after falling to a session low at 1.5413. USD/CHF traded at 0.9316 at 13:08 GMT off a session high at 0.9363. The greenback pulled back from session highs also against its Australian, New Zealand and Canadian counterparts, with AUD/USD down by 0.87% to 0.9212, NZD/USD down by 1.43% to 0.7785 and USD/CAD up by 0.63% to 1.0337.

Minutes ago, The Department of Labor in the United States announced that Initial Jobless Claims rose by 18 000 to seasonally adjusted 354 000 during the week ending on June 15th, significantly mismatching expectations of a rise only by 4 000 to 340 000 claims. Previous week result was revised up to 336 000 from 334 000. This data spoke of uneven labour market recovery. The indicator, which lacks seasonal effects, regarding US labour market trend, rose by 2 500 to 348 250 claims. The whole layoff picture, however, showed that US economy added more job positions than it laid off. Improving employment and real estate market situation in the country coincided with the moderately positive outlook on economy, which the Federal Reserve bank proposed at its monthly meeting on Wednesday.