Dollar Stays Firm Against Major Counterparts

(RTTNews) - The U.S. dollar gained against its major counterparts on Thursday, extending recent uptrend, amid continued bets the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates higher for a few more months.

In addition to the minutes of the central bank's most recent monetary policy meeting, today's data showing a bigger than expected drop in jobless claims, and a sharp acceleration in the nation's business activity raised concerns the rate will remain higher for longer than early thought.

Flash survey results from S&P Global showed that the composite output index rose to 54.4 from 51.3 in the previous month. The expected score was 51.1.

The manufacturing PMI increased to 50.9 from 50.0 in the prior month. Economists had forecast the index to remain unchanged.

The services PMI advanced to 54.8 in May from 51.3 in April. The reading was expected to remain unchanged.

Data from the Labor Department showed that first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits fell more than expected in the week ended May 18.

Initial jobless claims slid to 215,000, a decrease of 8,000 from the previous week's revised level of 223,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to edge down to 220,000 from the 222,000 originally reported for the previous week.

The dollar index, which dropped to 104.63 in early New York session, climbed to 105.11 later in the day.

Against the Euro, the dollar firmed to 1.0811, gaining from 1.0825, and against Pound Sterling, it strengthened to 1.2693.

The dollar was up marginally against the Japanese currency, fetching 156.88 yen a unit. Against the Aussie, the dollar firmed to 0.6603. The Swiss franc gained against the dollar, strengthening to CHF 0.9147 a dollar from CHF 0.9159.

The Loonie weakened to 1.3736 a unit of the U.S. currency, easing from Wednesday's closing value of C$ 1.3695.