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

The U.S. dollar soared against other major currencies on Thursday as the country's economic data came out overall positive.

The advance estimate of U.S. retail and food service sales for May registered 444.9 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 1.2 percent from the previous month, and 2.7 percent above May 2014, reported the Commerce Department on Thursday.

The U.S. Labor Department said on Thursday that in the week ending June 6, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial U.S. jobless claims was 279,000, an increase of 2,000 from the previous week's revised level. The latest reading remained in positive territory, indicating an improving U.S. labor market.

Analysts said the strong economic data bolstered market speculation that the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates later this year. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six other major peers, was up 0.31 percent at 94.942 in late trading.

In late New York trading, the euro dipped to 1.1264 dollars from 1.1316 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound dropped to 1.5519 dollars from 1.5528 dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar went down to 0.7751 dollars from 0. 7759 dollars.

The U.S. dollar bought 123.40 Japanese yen, higher than 122.70 yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar inched up to 0.9342 Swiss francs from 0.9314 Swiss francs, and it increased to 1.2281 Canadian dollars from 1.2264 Canadian dollars. Endite