Investing.com - The dollar held steady at eight-month highs against the other major currencies on Thursday, as trading volumes were expected to remain thin with U.S. markets closed for the Thanksgiving holiday.
USD/JPY edged down 0.15% to 122.57.
The greenback remained broadly supported after a string of upbeat U.S. data on Wednesday added to expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates next month.
The U.S. Commerce Department reported on Wednesday that new home sales rose by 10.7% to 495,000 units last month, compared to expectations for a gain of 6.0% to 500,000.
The report came shortly after the U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending November 21 declined by 12,000 to 260,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 272,000.
Data also showed that U.S. durable goods orders jumped by 3.0% last month, easily surpassing forecasts for 1.5%, while core durable goods orders, which exclude volatile transportation items, rose 0.5% in October, compared to expectations for an increase of 0.3%.
EUR/USD slipped 0.12% to 1.0610, not far from the previous session's seven-month trough of 1.0564.
Sentiment on the euro has remained fraile since European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said last Friday that the bank is ready to act quickly to boost inflation in the euro zone and can also change the level of its deposit rate to boost the impact of quantitative easing.
Elsewhere, the dollar was higher against the pound and the Swiss franc, with GBP/USD down 0.21% at 1.5095 and with USD/CHF adding 0.23% to 1.0241.
The Australian and New Zealand dollars were weaker, with AUD/USD down 0.40% at 0.7223 and with NZD/USD edging 0.08% lower to 0.6574.
Earlier Thursday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said that private capital expenditure declined by 9.2% in the third quarter, compared to expectations for a 3.0% drop. Private capital expenditure fell 4.4% in the second quarter, whose figure was revised from a previously estimated 4.0% slide.
Meanwhile, USD/CAD edged up 0.13% to 1.3307, not far from Monday's two-month high of 1.3437
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was steady at 99.88, just below Wednesday's eight-month peak of 100.21.