U.S. dollar gains as weekly jobless claims drop to eight-month low

NEW YORK, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. dollar gained in late trading on Thursday, as the U.S. weekly jobless claims dropped to an eight-month low and the labor market remains tight.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, rose 0.23 percent to 105.3620 in late trading.

A report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on Thursday showed that the initial claims for unemployment benefits dropped 20,000 to a seasonally adjusted 201,000 for the week ending Sept. 16, the lowest level since January. The report also showed unemployment rolls in early September were the smallest since January.

"This economy is just not showing any sign of slowing down which hints that inflation will not be coming back down to target," said Christopher Rupkey, chief economist at FWDBONDS. "The Federal Reserve was wise to keep another interest rate hike in their back pockets just in case, and it now looks like another rate hike is warranted."

Also on Thursday, the Diffusion Index for current general activity of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia's Manufacturing Survey declined sharply to -13.5 in September from 12 in August, but the figures don't seem to be having a noticeable impact on the U.S. dollar.

Meanwhile, the Bank of England (BoE) and the Swiss National Bank left interest rates unchanged on Thursday. Most economists were expecting the two banks to hike rates by another 25 basis points since inflation remains at an elevated level in Britain and Switzerland.

"Inflation has fallen a lot in recent months, and we think it will continue to do so," Andrew Bailey, the governor of BoE, said in a statement. "But there is no room for complacency."

In late New York trading, the euro was down to 1.0662 U.S. dollars from 1.0686 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound decreased to 1.2291 U.S. dollars from 1.2362 dollars.

The U.S. dollar bought 147.5180 Japanese yen, lower than 147.9800 Japanese yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar rose to 0.9040 Swiss francs from 0.8969 Swiss francs, and it increased to 1.3469 Canadian dollars from 1.3437 Canadian dollars. The U.S. dollar was up to 11.1616 Swedish krona from 11.0915 Swedish krona.