Wordbnd.com - The US dollar weakened slightly on Thursday evening, as surging technology stocks on Wall Street supported riskier assets.
Even so, the dollar was able to sustain gains made in Wednesday's session after less dovish minutes than expected from last month's Federal Reserve policy meeting lifted the greenback from a two-year low.
The gains of Apple Inc, Amazon.com Inc and Microsoft Corp on Thursday boosted three major American stock indexes. That risk-on move dampened demand for the dollar, which sent the index down slightly in afternoon trade.
Finally, the Dollar Index (DXY Index), a measure of the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, fell 0.24% to 92.764, Reuters and Xinhua reported in New York, Thursday (20/8) or Friday (21/8) morning. WIB.
But the index is still about 0.70% higher than a two-year low of 92,124 reached on Tuesday, owing to the impact of the Fed meeting minutes released Wednesday and Thursday's weak employment data.
"The strong sell-off that pushed the US dollar to 27-month lows eased after the minutes of the Fed's last meeting were read as less dovish. The details of the Fed's late July meeting no longer signal an imminent shift to cap US Treasury yields or let inflation move. too extreme, "said Joe Manimbo, an analyst at Western Union Business Solutions.
Also boosting the dollar was a Labor Department report showing the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose to 1.106 million for the week ended August 15, from 971,000 the previous week. The previous week's level marked the first time since March new claims were below 1 million.
Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had expected 910,000 new claims during the week.
The euro - the biggest beneficiary of a weak dollar - this week fell back below $ 1.19, although it moved slightly higher on Thursday's session at $ 1.186.
In late trading in New York, the pound rose to USD1.3207 from USD1.3115 in the previous session. The Australian dollar weakened to USD0,7191 from USD0,7203.
The US dollar bought 105.77 yen, lower than 105.90 yen of the previous session. Meanwhile, the greenback fell to 0.9084 Swiss francs from 0.9136 Swiss francs, and it shrank to 1.3178 Canadian dollars from 1.3186 Canadian dollars.