1st LD Writethru: U.S. dollar rises on upbeat job data

The U.S. dollar climbed against most major currencies on Thursday as job data from the country turned out positive.

U.S. Labor Department reported Thursday that the number of Americans who initially applied for jobless benefits in the week ending Jan. 3 slipped 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted 294,000.

Investors were awaiting the closely-watched December nonfarm payroll report due out on Friday to get a more comprehensive view of the U.S. labor market.

The euro fell against the U.S. dollar on the news that European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi said in an open letter that the central bank was preparing a stimulus package for officials to discuss at their next meeting later this month. The euro/dollar rate touched 1.1754, the lowest level in more than nine years.

The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against six major currencies, was up 0.49 percent at 92.344 in late trading.

In late New York trading, the euro moved down to 1.1784 dollars from 1.1848 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound dropped to 1.5085 dollars from 1.5120 dollars. The Australian dollar went up to 0.8110 dollar from 0.8078 dollar.

The U.S. dollar bought 119.67 Japanese yen, higher than 119.01 yen of the previous session. The greenback went up to 1.0193 Swiss francs from 1.0138 Swiss francs, and moved up to 1.1839 Canadian dollars from 1.1826 Canadian dollars. Endite