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

The U.S. dollar rose against other major currencies on Thursday as job data from the country came out positive.

U.S. Labor Department said on Thursday that in the week ending Feb. 14, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims in the country decreased 21,000 from the previous week's unrevised level to 283,000, lower than market consensus of 290,000.

The greenback was also supported by investors regaining confidence in the central bank's interest rates hike this year despite the minutes for the Federal Reserve's latest meeting showing officials were concerned that raising interest rates too soon would dampen the economic recovery.

Analysts said the minutes were dated as they just reflected what the policymakers thought before the release of January's strong payroll report.

In late New York trading, the euro went down to 1.1365 dollars from 1.1378 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound declined to 1.5414 dollars from 1.5439 dollars. The Australian dollar dropped to 0.7788 dollars from 0.7817 dollars.

The U.S. dollar bought 118.99 Japanese yen, higher than 118.77 yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar edged up to 0.9497 Swiss francs from 0.9436 Swiss francs, and it rose to 1.2495 Canadian dollars from 1.2425 Canadian dollars. Endite