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

The U.S. dollar increased against most major currencies on Thursday as economic data from the country came out overall positive.

In the week ending April 25, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims was 262,000, a decrease of 34,000 from the previous week's revised level, the U.S. Labor Department said Thursday. The latest reading was the lowest level in 15 years and below market consensus of 288,000.

The U.S. Commerce Department said on Thursday that personal income was unchanged in March from the previous month. Meanwhile, consumer spending, which takes up more than two-thirds of the U.S. economy, rose 0.4 percent from a revised increase of 0.2 percent in February.

The greenback pared losses on Thursday from the previous session when the weaker-than-expected U.S. economic growth report and dovish Federal Reserve statement lowered market expectations for an interest rate hike as soon as June this year.

In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.1253 dollars from 1.1114 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound decreased to 1.5352 dollars from 1.5430 dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar went down to 0.7916 dollars from 0. 8033 dollars.

The U.S. dollar bought 119.34 Japanese yen, higher than 119.01 yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar slipped to 0.9322 Swiss francs from 0.9397 Swiss francs, and it climbed to 1.2090 Canadian dollars from 1.2012 Canadian dollars. Endite