NEW YORK, July 20 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. dollar traded lower against most major currencies on Thursday after European Central Bank (ECB) reiterated necessity of flexible monetary policy.
The ECB president Mario Draghi said on Thursday that "a very substantial degree of monetary accommodation" is still needed to support the euro area to move towards "a sustained convergence of inflation rates to levels below, but close to two percent over the medium term."
The bank decided Thursday to keep key interest rates for the euro area at record lows.
On the economic front, the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week, touching its lowest level in nearly five months, suggesting another month of strong job growth.
In the week ending July 15, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims was 233,000, a decrease of 15,000 from the previous week's revised level, the Labor Department said Thursday. The latest reading was lower than market consensus of a 246,000-decline.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was down 0.52 percent at 94.290 in late trading.
In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.1625 dollars from 1.1518 dollars, and the British pound decreased to 1.2976 dollars from 1.3025 U.S. dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar edged up to 0.7961 U.S. dollar from 0.7957 U.S. dollar.
The U.S. dollar bought 111.87 Japanese yen, higher than 111.79 yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar fell to 0.9515 Swiss franc from 0.9553 Swiss franc, and it edged down to 1.2568 Canadian dollars from 1.2630 Canadian dollars.
