Investing.com - The dollar held gains against against the other major currencies on Thursday, after the release of mostly upbeat U.S. economic reports and as investors turned their attention Friday's highly-anticipated nonfarm payrolls data.
USD/JPY slipped 0.13% to 120.16.
The Institute of Supply Management reported that its non-manufacturing purchasing manager's index fell 59.0 last month from 60.3 in July, above forecasts for a reading of 58.1.
The report came after the U.S. Department of Labor said the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending August 29 increased by 12,000 to 282,000 from the previous week’s total of 270,000.
Analysts had expected initial jobless claims to rise by 5,000 to 275,000 last week.
First-time jobless claims have held below the 300,000-level for 26 consecutive weeks, which is usually associated with a firming labor market.
Data also showed that the U.S. trade deficit narrowed to $41.86 billion in July from a deficit of $45.21 billion in June, whose figure was revised from a previously reported deficit of $43.8 billion. Analysts had expected the U.S. trade deficit to narrow to $42.4 billion in July.
Investors were looking ahead to Friday's highly-anticipated jobs report for further indications on the strength of the economy and signs of a potential rate hike by the Federal Reserve this month.
The dollar pushed higher against the euro, with EUR/USD down 0.93% at 1.1123.
The single currency weakened broadly after the European Central Bank indicated that it could expand its quantitative easing program amid increased downside risks to its inflation outlook.
The ECB lowered its forecast for growth and inflation, citing oil prices and slowing growth in China.
Earlier Thursday, the ECB kept its benchmark interest rate at a record-low 0.05%, in line with the consensus expectation.
The dollar extended gains against the pound and the Swiss franc, with GBP/USD down 0.26% at three-month lows of 1.5261 and with USD/CHF gaining 0.47% to 0.9737.
Data earlier showed that the Markit services PMI fell to 55.6 in August from 57.4 in July. It was the weakest reading since May 2013 and was well below economists’ forecasts of 57.6.
The Australian dollar and New Zealand dollars turned higher but remained within close distance of 6-year troughs. AUD/USD was up 0.20% at 0.7052 and NZD/USD advanced 0.80% to 0.6401.
Meanwhile, USD/CAD dropped 0.88% to trade at 1.3153. Data on Thursday showed that Canada's trade deficit narrowed to C$0.59 billion in July from C$0.81 billion in June, compared to expectations for a deficit of C$1.30 billion.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.69% at 96.55.